India level Test series despite Markram’s herculean effort

CAPE TOWN: India beat South Africa by seven wickets despite a stunning century by Aiden Markram on the second day of the second Test at Newlands on Thursday and level the series.

Set to make 79 to win, India needed just 12 overs to secure the victory. South Africa won the first Test in Centurion by an innings and 32 runs.

Chasing a small target on a difficult pitch, Indian opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal went on the attack from the first ball, making 28 off 23 deliveries before being caught on the boundary off Nandre Burger. Shubman Gill (10) and Virat Kohli (12) fell to Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen before Shreyas Iyer hit the winning boundary with his only scoring stroke.

Captain Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 16. Markram hit 106 off 103 balls before South Africa were bowled out for 176 shortly before lunch.

Jasprit Bumrah took six for 61 -- and was denied the wicket of Markram when the batsman, on 71, edged a drive and wicketkeeper KL Rahul could not hold a catch above his head. Markram defied a pitch with pace, extravagant seam movement and uneven bounce, on which the highest score of any of his teammates in either innings was 15.

He hit 17 fours and two sixes, one of which, off Prasidh Krishna, sailed out of the ground and onto a railway line beyond square leg.

The 29-year-old opening batsman was eventually out caught at mid-off by Sharma off Mohammed Siraj attempting another big shot. Siraj set up India´s win when he took six for 15 as South Africa were bowled out for 55 before lunch on Wednesday. Twenty-three wickets fell on the first day.

South Africa won the toss

South Africa 1st Innings 55

India 1st Innings 153

South Africa 2nd Innings

Markram c Sharma b Siraj 106

Elgar (c) c Kohli b Kumar 12

Zorzi c Rahul b Kumar 1

Stubbs c Rahul b Bumrah 1

Bedingham c Rahul b Bumrah 11

Verreynne c Siraj b Bumrah 9

Jansen c & b Bumrah 11

Maharaj c Iyer b Bumrah 3

Rabada c Sharma b Krishna 2

Nandre Burger not out 6

Ngidi c Jaiswal b Bumrah 8

Extras: (lb 1, nb 5) 6

Total: 36.5 Ov (RR: 4.77) 176

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-41, 3-45, 4-66, 5-85, 6-103, 7-111, 8-162, 9-162, 10-176

Bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 13.5-0-61-6,

Mohammed Siraj 9-3-31-1, Mukesh Kumar 10-2-56-2, Prasidh Krishna 4-1-27-1

India 2nd Innings

Jaiswal c Stubbs b Burger 28

Rohit Sharma (c) not out 16

Shubman Gill b Rabada 10

Kohli c Verreynne b Jansen 12

Shreyas Iyer not out 4

Extras: (b 1, lb 2, nb 1, w 6) 10

Total: 12 Ov (RR: 6.66) 80/3

Did not bat: KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar

Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-57, 3-75

Bowling: Kagiso Rabada 6-0-33-1, Nandre Burger 4-0-29-1, Marco Jansen 2-0-15-1

Result: India won by 7 wickets

Player of the match: M. Siraj

Umpires: Ahsan Raza, Langton Rusere

SPORTS LHR

Aleem, Anis, Sahil, Hasnain in snooker semis

By our correspondent

LAHORE: Aleem Owis, Mohammad Anis, Mohammad Sahil and Mohammad Hasnain on Thursday blasted their way into the semi-finals of the 2nd National Junior Under-17 Snooker Championship being held here at the PSB Coaching Centre.

In the semi-finals on Friday (today), Aleem Owis of Punjab will face Mohammad Anis of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Mohammad Sahil of Sindh will be pitted against Mohammad Hasnain, also of Sindh.

The semi-finals will be followed by the final also on Friday. In the quarter-finals on Thursday, Aleem downed Mohammad Aaliyan of Punjab 4-1 with the frames score being 9-73, 53-05, 56-14, 64-27, 63-34 while Mohammad Anis defeated Ali Raza of Balochistan 4-3 with the frames score of 60-47, 38-51, 22-63, 47-36, 67-50, 01-75, 65-39.

In the third quarter-final, Mohammad Sahil of Sindh defeated Zain ul Aabdin of Punjab 4-1 with the frames score being 87-35, 35-58, 65-54, 74-32, 84-18 while Mohammad Hasnain defeated Bilal of KP 4-1. The frames score was 70-34, 51-62, 70-22, 69-35, 69-26.