'We Knew It is Going to be a Short Game': Rohit Sharma After India's Historic Test Win in Cape Town

Team Indian captain Rohit Sharma gave credit to his pace attack for a comprehensive 7-wicket win over South Africa in Cape Town. Rohit became the second captain after MS Dhoni, who led the Indian team to draw a Test series on the Proteas soil. Meanwhile, it was India’s first-ever Test win in Cape Town – as they also became the first Asian side to do so.

Rohit said that despite the embarrassing collapse in the first innings, India did well to take a 98-run lead which gave them an upper hand in the match.

“A great feat. In Centurion, we had to learn from the mistakes. We came back very well, especially our bowlers. Had some plans and the boys got rewarded. We applied ourselves, we batted well to get a 100-run lead, not pleasing to see the last six wickets,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation.

Rohit heaped praise on his fast bowlers for a stellar show on a bouncy track to dismiss the hosts on below-par scores in both innings.

“We knew that it’s going to be a short game, we knew every run matters, to get that lead was very important.  Very special, something you don’t get to see very often. We spoke about keeping things simple and that’s what happened (On Siraj’s bowling). The pitch did the rest. Lot of credit to Siraj, Bumrah, Mukesh and Prasidh,” the Indian skipper added.

Talking about playing the Proteas conditions, Rohit asserted that it’s always a challenging tour against a tough opponent and they will take a lot of pride from their performance in Cape Town Test.

Whenever you come here, it’s challenging. We have played a lot of good cricket outside India, we take a lot of pride. We would have loved to win the series. South Africa is a great team, they always challenge us, they are such a good team. We can take a lot of pride from this performance.

The Indian skipper also wished Dean Elgar who played his last Test match as the Indian team also presented him a signed jersey by all Indian players.

“Such an important player for SA, very gritty, we appreciate that. I’d like to wish him the best. Brilliant career, best wishes ahead,” he concluded.