IND vs SA 1st Test: Elgar lights up Centurion with ton in farewell game

Proteas opener Dean Elgar lit up his home stadium of Centurion by hitting a hundred in his farewell Test at the venue. Batting against India in the Boxing Day Test at the SuperSport Park, Elgar brought up his 14th Test ton with a four against Shardul Thakur on the second day of the first Test on Wednesday, December 27, 2023.

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Elgar, who announced his retirement from international cricket before the start of the series, opened the innings for one last time at his home ground with Aiden Markram, in the first session of the day.

He played brilliantly against the swinging ball early on against the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. Though he lost partners at the other end in the form of Markram, Tony de Zorzi and Keegan Petersen, it had no effect on his batting.

Elgar, the former Proteas skipper, reached his first hundred in nearly three years with the last one coming in the New Year’s Test way back in 2021 against Sri Lanka at Johannesburg.

Elgar, 36, added 93 for the second wicket with de Zorzi and in the process reached his 24th Test fifty in just 79 balls. de Zorzi and Petersen were out in quick succession. But Elgar paired up with debutant David Bedingham and added an unbeaten 81 for the fourth wicket before Tea was called on. 

Elgar has scored 5261 runs in 85 Tests for his country with 14 hundreds and 23 fifties to his name so far. His high score of 199 came against Bangladesh in 2017.