IND v SA: Dean Elgar Calls Cape Town Match The Biggest Game For South Africa In Last 10-15 Years

South Africa Test captain Dean Elgar termed the upcoming third Test match against India at the Newlands, Cape Town as the biggest game for the Proteas in the last 10-15 years. The three-Test match series between the two teams stands at 1-1 and this match will decide whether the series is won by either of the teams or ends in a draw.

India has never won a Test series in South Africa as the rainbow nations remain their final frontier in terms of Test series victories in SENA nations. India has registered at least one Test series win in New Zealand, England, and recently in Australia, while since their first tour to the rainbow nation since 1992, their best outcome has been a 1-1 draw in 2010 under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.

On the other hand, South Africa showed great resolve and grit to register a win in the second match of the series in Johannesburg thanks to Dean Elgar’s stoic 96* and Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada’s brilliant bowling. India had won the first Test match in Centurion by 130 runs with KL Rahul making a ton and Mohammad Shami taking a fifer.

This Test Is Potentially The Biggest We’ve Had In 10 Years, Maybe Even 15 Years: Dean Elgar

Elgar, known for his steely resolve, took multiple blows on the body on his way to a match-winning 96 in the second Test. He further said in a pre-match press conference that the gloves are off in the series decider against India and said Virat Kohli’s return for their biggest Test in the “last 10-15 years” will make the battle more intense.

“This test is potentially the biggest we’ve had in 10 years, maybe even 15 years. And I think that speaks for its own respect. Test cricket is always going to have intensity, me as a player harboring the intensity as well. So I don’t think it’s going to lack intensity.

Test cricket still demands quite a high level of intensity and you have to maintain that throughout five days. I know it’s not always possible to maintain that throughout five days. But you have to be pretty consistent with regards to implementing the intensity throughout. That’s why it’s so important to switch off when you can switch off.

We saw in the Wanderers the minute we brought the intensity it seemed to almost flush the Indians quite a lot. And when that can play in our favour and it would be silly for us not to try and replicate that or even bring even more intensity into the next game,” said Elgar.

For Us Winning The Series 2-1 One Is Huge: Dean Elgar

Dean Elgar further said that if South Africa manages to win the third Test in Cape Town, it will be the biggest win of his short captaincy career. Elgar had taken over the captaincy mid-season last year from Quinton de Kock.

“We’ve been playing actually pretty good cricket up until now. We’ve had a lot of things that go our away because you need some momentum and they’re on your side. And we’ve been doing everything right.

For us winning the series 2-1 one is huge, beating the world number one side even though it’s in your back garden, it’s still going to speak massive amounts for our players group going forward in the Proteas batch,” said Elgar.

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