NEWS
Follow UsSouth Africa captain Dean Elgar says India's DRS outburst gave his side a chance to chip away at the target. Set 212 to win, South Africa won the third Test at Newlands by seven wickets and with that, won the series.
However, there was a moment of controversy where the Indian players, including skipper Virat Kohli, blamed the broadcasters SuperSport after a decision went against them when Elgar was at the crease.
"That obviously gave us a little bit of a window period, especially yesterday (Thursday) for us to score a little bit freer and obviously, chip away at the deficit that we needed or the target that we needed," Elgar said after their series-clinching seven-wicket win on Friday (January 14).
"It worked out well in our hands, it played nicely into our hands. For a period of time, they actually forgot about the game and they were challenging a bit more of the emotional side of what Test cricket has to offer."
Elgar said that the Indians were under a bit of pressure which led to such a reaction. "Loved it. It was obviously maybe a team that was under a little bit of pressure and things weren't going the way which they obviously were quite used to of late.
"Yeah, we're extremely happy. We still had to execute our skills with the bat (on day three and four) knowing that the wicket was playing a bit in the bowlers' favour and we needed to be extra disciplined out there and execute our basics."
The skipper also praised his side for the way they bounced back from a 113-run loss at Centurion to win the next two Tests convincingly.
"Losing the first game of a home Test series is never ideal. I think it's a South African trait that you always have to start slow and we almost have to be 0-1 down to actually wake up and realise that you know we were up against it and our backs against the wall and the guys responded beautifully to that."
Asked about the change room conversations, the Proteas skipper said: "I think that ties into the conversations I had with the team prior to the second game. Guys taking responsibility and valuing their wicket a lot more. A few soft dismissals and lapses of concentration can hinder your series and ultimately that's what got us the loss in the first game."
Elgar said he is "very happy that the guys responded well."
"They responded to fulfil those roles, especially from a batting point of view. We needed guys to stand up from a character point of view, make a bit more of a conscious effort and be a lot more aware of the position that they have within the side, purely to bring the best out of the player.
"Ultimately bringing the best out of the player will obviously influence the environment. So yeah, I'm glad and very, very relieved and very, very thankful of the guys for responding the way they did.
"It's a proper squad effort, even the guys who didn't play stood up at the right occasions for us."
After losing the first Test, it took a lot of character from South Africa to stage a comeback and Elgar showed the way with an unbeaten 96 to chase down 240 to level the series at Wanderers.
"The momentum is something that we gained from Wanderers. Another thing is confidence especially from our batters point of view. We haven't had a lot of that. "But showing the guys that these guys are beatable. They're also human beings. We are human beings playing a bloody tough sport.
"You need to get that confidence within your setup. I'd say momentum and confidence is a big thing that we've gained out of the Wanderers victory," he said about their turnaround.
Leading a relatively inexperienced side, many wrote Elgar off but he and his team eventually came through. "I think my skin is pretty thick when it comes to on-field matters and matters that value the team in a big way."
Talking about his learnings as a skipper, Elgar said: "I don't want to show my emotions too much on camera. So I think from that point of view, it's something that I've actually learned quite quickly.
"I haven't had a lot of time to actually sit down and bottle everything up. I think from a captaincy point of view it definitely helped me from being a little bit more calm with regards to not panicking too soon," he concluded.
(With inputs from PTI)
