Centurion, January 17: Debutant pacer Lungi Ngidi gave a match-winning performance to help South African register an emphatic win over India at SuperSports Park. The 21-year-old Man of the Match took six wickets for 39 to seal the series for Proteas as they take an unassailable 2-0 lead in three-match Test series. The famed Indian batting unit was rattled on the final day of the second Test. With this defeat, all the hopes of Team India registering their first series victory dashed. Captain Virat Kohli’s team, ranked No. 1 Test side in the world were outdone by their strong opponents in every department.

Set to chase the target of 287 by South Africa, India suffered early setbacks on the fourth day of the Centurion Test losing both openers, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul along with the big wicket of skipper Kohli cheaply. India began the final day on a defensive note with Cheteshwar Pujara and Parthiv Patel walked into bat with the overnight total reading 35-3.

Pujara, considered a Test specialist was expected to pull the side from jaws of defeat. However, the Saurashtra captain disappointed by getting run out, a second time in the match. India had lost four wickets under the score of 50. Parthiv Patel who showed a lot of character after getting hit by a blazing delivery on day four was the next batsman to be back in the hut. World’s best Test bowler Kagiso Rabada got him caught by Morne Morkel with India steering towards a definite defeat at 65-5.

Hardik Pandya who made a quickfire 93 in the Cape Town Test in a similar situation could not do much this time around. The young Indian all-rounder failed to salvage pride for his side as he fell to a wide bouncer. R Ashwin was also not much of a trouble for South Africa as he got out playing a loose shot.

Rohit Sharma, India’s most-debated selection in the side definitely showed more intent in this innings than his previous outings. The Mumbai player stitched a partnership of 54 runs with Mohammed Shami. The duo’s efforts delayed the defeat but could not avert it as Rabada removed Sharma followed by Ngidi picking up the last two wickets. The combination of Rabada and Ngidi proved to be too lethal to handle for clueless Indian batsmen. Virat would hope the nightmarish results would end in Johannesburg, the venue of the third and final Test match.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2018 05:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).