A sublime second innings 82 from Keegan Petersen and an unbeaten 41 by Rassie van der Dussen and 32 by Temba Bavuma has guided South Africa to a series victory over India, with a seven wicket win in the third Test at Cape Town. Rassie and Bavuma combined for an unbeaten partnership of 57 off 105 balls to finish off the chase and clinch the series, despite the home team going 0-1 down after the series opener.
The day began with the Proteas on their overnight score of 101/2, needing another 111 runs to deny India a historic Test series win in South Africa.
Petersen started on 48 and reached his second half-century of the match with a brace on a thick edge going through third man. This was his third half-century of the series, and his second in this match. India pacers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah asked many questions while beating the outer edges but couldn't get a wicket early in the day to help India get back in the competition.
Rassie van der Dussen pounced on everything with width and also survived a caught behind appeal off Shami as bat touched the ground while looking to drive. Petersen continued to impress with his off-side play and had a reprieve at 59 when Jasprit Bumrah found an outer edge with a peach of a delivery but Cheteshwar Pujara couldn't hold onto the catch at the first slip.
Van der Dussen clipped Umesh Yadav through mid-wicket while Petersen took two more boundaries through the off-side off Shami and Bumrah. The 54-run partnership was broken by Shardul Thakur, who got Petersen to chop on to his stumps and fall 18 runs short of his maiden Test hundred.
Petersen's fall got India to keep things tight till Temba Bavuma punched off backfoot and then creamed a drive through extra cover off Bumrah to restart the run-flow for South Africa. Thakur almost had van der Dussen's wicket but the right-hander survived via umpire's call on an lbw appeal as South Africa inched closer to the series win.
Just 41 runs were needed when the teams resumed play in the second session of the day and the Proteas used just 9 overs to close the historic win.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)