185 runs, 287 balls, 425 minutes: Dean Elgar played an innings to all but knock India out of the Centurion Test. He controlled proceedings, giving no chances away to Indian bowlers to take control. He even copped blows to his arm, chest and shoulder off the short deliveries in the IND vs SA 1st Test. But he batted India out of the match almost. And India batter Dinesh Karthik is mighty impressed with his approach.
In what could only be called as a classic Test match batting, Dean Elgar stitched together 93-run stand with Tony de Zorzi. Then, he added a 131-run stand with David Bedingham. He then followed it up with a 111-run partnership with Marco Jansen to give South Africa a 163-run lead in the IND vs SA 1st Test.
“If you had to dissect Elgar’s batting, he is a very old-school batter in a modern game today. What he does have is a very simple technique and very minimal movements. He is very crouched in his stance and has a backlift which is already up. All he has to do is bring it down,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
It was Dean Elgar who never let India bounce back in the match despite Jasprit Bumrah striking twice on Day 2. And the Dean Elgar demon continued to haunt India as he inched closer to completing 1000 Test runs against India. But of those 996 runs, 389 runs have come in the last two series alone.
“Credit to Elgar. I thought he played a wonderful knock. It was one of those knocks which was laced with a lot of Dean Elgar kind of shots, leaving the ball, playing tough cricket, and just putting away the ones that were close to him or the ones that were really short,” Dinesh Karthik added.
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