South Africa took a little less than six overs on the final day of the first cricket Test to wrap up the last two Indian wickets and clinch the high profile series opener with a resounding innings and 25 runs victory in Centurion on Monday.
But more than South Africa’s convincing victory against the number one ranked side in the world to take a 1-0 lead, the match at the SuperSport Park in Centurion will go down in history books as the one which witnessed Sachin Tendulkar reach the coveted landmark of scoring 50 centuries in Test cricket.
After they finished the penultimate day staring down the barrel at 454 for the loss of eight wickets, India’s hopes, more than Tendulkar’s broad shoulders, rested on the weather gods.
While Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 111, there was no rain interruption on the fifth and final day as the South African pace duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel sealed the issue in their team’s favour in no time.
Resuming at 454 for eight, India could manage just five runs to their overnight total, four of them coming off Tendulkar’s blade.
Last man Jaidev Unadkat lasted just 10 balls for his one run before offering a simple catch to Ashwell Prince at gully as Steyn brought the curtains down on India’s stiff second-innings resistance.
After the collapse in their first innings, India rode on Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir’s half centuries in their second essay.
But four quick wickets pushed the visitors on the brink again before Tendulkar and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni stage a recovery with a spirited 172-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
It was Tendulkar’s historic ton and his association with skipper Dhoni that helped India delays the inevitable.
While the batsmen dished out a much better performance in the second innings, India’s bowling lacked the bite in the absence of spearhed Zaheer Khan.
The two teams now move to Durban for the second Test starting 26th December.
