The second Test between South Africa and India had the fewest balls bowled by both teams of any red ball cricket match. It took place on Thursday. India beat Australia by seven wickets in the second Test, which was played over two days. In both sets, a total of 642 balls were bowled. This red ball match was the shortest Test in terms of the number of balls played. It was between Australia and South Africa in Melbourne in 1932. It took 656 passes to win, with the hosts coming out on top by an innings and 72 runs. In 1935, the West Indies played England in Bridgetown. The game was over in 672 balls, and the Caribbean team won by an innings and 161 runs. This was the fourth fastest Test match ever. It took 788 bowled deliveries to finish in Manchester in 1888 between England and Australia. Finally, the fifth shortest Test match was played at Lord’s in 1888 between England and Australia, two of the oldest enemies in cricket.
In the Test match between India and South Africa, the visitors tied the series on a rough field surrounded by the beautiful Table Mountains, where the ball did all sorts of tricks. On the second day, India quickly beat the hosts with the ball, even though opener Aiden Markram scored a heroic hundred, and they chased down a low score in just 11 overs. Dean Elgar, who opened for Protea, played his last international match in this two-day match. Because normal captain Temba Bavuma was hurt and couldn’t lead the team in the second Test, Elgar took over as stand-in captain.
But in the end, the guests lost after two days of interesting and, to a large extent, strange cricket. India’s win to tie the series was made possible by the fast bowling of Jasprit Bumrah (6-61) and Mohammed Siraj (6-15).
