JOHANNESBURG: South Africa opener Dean Elgar battled his way to a remarkable fifty that allowed South Africa bat their way to a strong position on the fourth day of the third Test here on Saturday. This was Elgar’s 10th Test fifty and came from 153 balls with seven boundaries.
Nobody expected Elgar to play such a combative innings after the way he copped a blow on his helmet from Jasprit Bumrah that brought an early end to the third day’s play. His position hadn’t improved on the fourth day too as India continued to probe the area outside his off-stump.
A loose and full delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, however, allowed Elgar to get some welcome runs when the going was getting really tough for him. His next boundary came in dubious fashion though. Trying to drive Kumar, Elgar saw his shot go past gully.
Kumar and Ishant Sharma were keeping the pressure on him, bowling a nagging line that Elgar had to play at times. It obviously led to a lot of play and misses but Elgar did well to hang around. The first time Elgar looked like giving it back to the South Africans was when whacked Ishant through midwicket for a boundary.
But this was before Hardik Pandya got a delivery to hit him on the chest. Taking his eyes off the ball didn’t help but Elgar battled on before pulling Pandya through midwicket. In the process, Amla and Elgar also raised 100 runs for the second wicket and set up South Africa’s chase.
The shot that took Elgar past fifty too came in scratchy fashion. Trying to leave a Pandya delivery at the last second, Elgar got his glove to the ball that raced through the slip cordon to bring up his fifty.
