South Africa vs India, 1st Test Day 5 Stats Review: India's maiden win in Centurion, Mohammed Shami's landmark and other stats

The Proteas captain Dean Elgar was on 77 when India’s spearhead Jasprit Bumrah got him out LBW and it opened the door for the visitor’s victory. Mohammed Siraj bowled wicketkeeper-batter, Quinton de Kock for 21 in the same fashion as he was dismissed by Shardul Thakur in the first innings with India started reaching towards a win quickly.

Temba Bavuma showed some resistance and fight as he remained not out on 35 off 80 deliveries with South Africa’s lower order unable to provide support to the 31-year old batter. Fresh from a five-for in the first innings, Mohammed Shami continued his good form as he took two more wickets on the final day. He and Bumrah finished with three wickets each with Siraj also bagging two scalps.

R Ashwin finished off the formalities quickly as he took the final two wickets in consecutive deliveries to hand India a victory of 113 runs and a series lead of 1-0. For his brilliant century in the first innings, KL Rahul was adjudged the Player of the Match, which is his second award in 2021.

Team India would like to end the drought of not winning the Test series in the rainbow nation by clinching the second Test while Dean Elgar will hope for a better performance from his team in the Johannesburg Test starting January 3, 2022.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from South Africa vs India, 1^st Test Day 5:

1 – First win for India in Tests at SuperSport Park, Centurion. They had played twice before and were on the losing side both times.

31 – With 31 wickets, Mohammed Siraj became the pacer with most wickets for India in Tests in 2021.

5 – Overall, Mohammed Siraj became the fifth pacer with most Test wickets this year.

4 – Fourth Test win for India in South Africa. They have played 21 matches, losing ten times and managing a draw on seven occasions.

54 – R Ashwin took 54 scalps in Tests this year which is the most by any bowler.

2 – Second instance when India has won four Tests outside Asia in a calendar year. They did win as many matches in the year 2018.

442 – Captain Dean Elgar finished the year with 442 runs in Tests, the highest by any South African batter.

2 – Second POTM award for KL Rahul this year. He equals Rishabh Pant who also won it twice in 2021.

3 – Third time the Proteas got dismissed under 200 in both the innings since their re-admission. Previous two Tests were against Australia and India in 2002 and 2018 respectively.

2 – With four victories, India is second in the list for most away Test wins in 2021. Pakistan won five Tests away from home this year.

4 – Dean Elgar scored most 50 plus scores (4) for South Africa this year. Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen struck three such scores each.

1 – India became the first Asian team to defeat South Africa in Centurion.