CHENNAI: When the Indian team landed in South Africa mid December, the visitors were looked upon as favourites to return home win a historic Test series win. Nobody gave a chance to the hosts to emerge triumphant against Virat Kohli’s men, which had a lot of experience in its ranks.
But as the adage goes “Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties” Dean Elgar and his young warriors defeated India 2-1 to pocket the series winning the final Test at Cape Town in style. “Pretty elated. Obviously it will sink (Test series win) in a day or two. Really proud. We were thrown under the sword quite a few times in this series and the guys responded brilliantly.
Obviously, to bounce back after losing the first game, to believe that we could still win. Extremely happy,’’ said an elated Dean Elgar after his team’s creditable Test series win. For India, it was an opportunity lost to win their maiden Test series in South Africa. But for Elgar & Co this could be a new chapter as they beat the top side and perhaps this win could facilitate the process of a team that is in transition. South Africa, after losing the first Test at Centurion by 113 runs, bounced back to win the remaining two Tests.
“We’ve played as a unit and we’ve grown massively as a group in the last two Tests. If you want to compete in Test cricket and be No 1 someday, you have to beat the best in the world. I’m really happy that things went well for us. Could easily have gone wrong and I’d have had egg on my face. As I said earlier, really proud of this group. We’re by no means a finished article (side), I can tell you that. I’m already thinking of the next series,’’ insisted Elgar.