The fourth day was dominated by the second century by Rohit Sharma, where he achieved something which no other opener had done in Tests so far, by making twin centuries in the first Test where he had opened. That was something which CG Greenidge and AJ Strauss narrowly missed, and was not achieved by a galaxy of renowned openers from Hobbs and Sutcliffe to Gavaskar and Graeme Smith.
The final day appeared to be ready for a quick finish when 7 wickets fell rapidly before lunch. The batsmen finally put up some fight to take the score from 70/8 to 161/9 to 191-one of the relatively few innings where the score was doubled after the 8th wicket fell.
S Muthusamy (49*), the No 7 batsman and debutant put on 91 for the 9th wicket with DL Piedt (56, his first fifty). Finally Muthusamy put on 30 for the 10th wicket with K Rabada (18).
While India won by 203 runs, there were a number of statistical highlights by the South African batsmen:
Highest score by No 8-11 batsman against India in the 4th innings:
Piedt’s 56 is the highest such score in India. The only other tailend fifty in India was NJ Astle’s 51* in 2003. Also note Griffith’s 40* which helped WI force a draw in 1967.
Then we look more carefully at S Muthusamy’s 33* (at no 8) and 49* (at no 7). He also took Kohli’s wicket.
Highest totals without a dismissal on debut:
His 82 is in the middle of this table. AG Kripal Singh and RG Nadkarni are also here.
Highest totals with two not out innings on debut:
He is in 5th position here. Azhar Mahmood is the only one with an unbeaten century AND fifty on debut, and GC Grant the only other one with two unbeaten fifties on debut. Muthusamy’s 82 is the highest such total against India, ahead of CM Old’s 50 in 1972. AE Trott also took 8-43 on his debut
Highest totals on debut without a fifty:
Muthusamy is in 6th place here, though the topper LK Germon (89) and AJ Pycroft (85) scored more against India. The best by India is 74 by M Vijay followed by 73 by Akash Chopra.
Highest total in all Tests without a fifty:
This was, predictably, headed by someone with two 49s. No debutant reached 90 without a fifty, the record being 89 by Germon listed above. G Kirsten of SA is second here.
Finally we look at the highest scores by No 10 against India:
Piedt is 4th on this list and the highest in the 4th innings. His 56 is higher than Verity’s 55* in the first innings.
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