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The Indian team suffered a crushing inning and 32-run loss against South Africa in the first Test of the two-game series. Veteran Proteas star Dean Elgar was named the Player of the Match for his magical 185 to set up the Test for South Africa before the pacers completed their job and gave the hosts a dominant. The defeat has made a massive dent in India's position in the World Test Championship 2023-25 Points Table.
Talking about the game, the Men in Blue were asked to bat first as the hosts took control of this fixture from the first session. Team India had a series of collapses around which KL Rahul starred to score a fighting 101 and help the visitors post 245 in the first innings. Like India, South Africa lost early wickets but Elgar, with the likes of, Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham and Marcon Jansen, carried the Proteas to a massive 408-run target.
Debutant Bedingham scored a vital 56 while Jansen remained not out at 84 in 147 balls. Then in India's second innings, Nandre Burger picked up 4-33, taking his tally for his debut match to seven wickets and powering South Africa to a thumping triumph.
After this crushing loss, India slumped to the fifth position from the top spot in the updated World Test Championship (2023-25) table. Meanwhile, South Africa zoomed to the top of the table. India has 44.44 percentage points while the Proteas sit at number one with 100 percentage points after winning their first game of the 2023-25 cycle.
Check out the table here:
