India beat Proteas in shortest test match

India beat South Africa by seven wickets in the shortest test match in cricket history.

India won 12 overs after lunch on day two, after scoring 80-3 to overhaul a target of 79.

Only 642 legitimate deliveries were bowled across four-plus sessions. The previous shortest test —

656 balls — was in 1932 at Melbourne between Australia and South Africa.

India’s first win at Newlands tied the two-test series 1-1. South Africa won in Centurion by an innings and

32 runs.

“This win is a great feat for us,” captain Rohit Sharma said. “We had to learn from our mistakes in Centurion. We came back very well, especially our bowlers.

“We knew it was going to be a short game where every run mattered. We applied ourselves with the bat and got nearly a 100-run lead.”

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s 6-61 helped to negate Aiden Markram’s brilliant 106 to bowl out South Africa

We knew it was going to be a short game where every run mattered. We applied ourselves with the bat and got nearly a 100-run lead.

India captain Rohit Sharma

for 176 runs in their second innings by lunch.

That gave India a tricky chase of 79 on a pitch of variable bounce.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a quick-fire 28 off 23 balls, with six boundaries. He was caught at long leg off Nandre Burger.

Sharma survived two dropped catches, and was unbeaten in the end with 17 not out.

Kagiso Rabada bowled Shubman Gill for 10 and finished the short series with 11 wickets.

Marco Jansen nicked off Virat Kohli for 12 runs when India were four runs from only their fifth win on South African soil.

Earlier, Markram’s counterattacking century helped the Proteas improve from 111-7 to finish on 176, when lunch was called.

After 23 wickets fell on an extraordinary first day, South Africa resumed on 62-3 in their second innings. The game looked like ending in the morning session, with India chasing an innings victory, but Markram stepped up.

The opener scored 51 off 38 balls with tailender Rabada for the eighth wicket and reached his hundred off

99 balls. Markram hit 17 fours and two sixes in his 103-ball knock.

The next highest score was Dean Elgar’s 12. Apart from Markram, only three batters reached double digits.

Before Markram’s masterclass, the best individual score in the game was Kohli’s 46 in India’s first innings.

Bumrah finished the series with 12 wickets and was named joint player of the series with Elgar, who scored

201 runs across four innings. Elgar, who led South Africa at Newlands in the absence of the injured Temba Bavuma, announced his retirement pre-series.

“I would have liked to do more in this test, but I am still proud of my performance in Centurion,” said Elgar, who scored 185 in the first innings there.

“These were some really tough conditions. The first innings killed us with the bat [South Africa were dismissed for 55]. India bowled very well and used the conditions perfectly. A three-test series would have been fantastic.”