Current South African test skipper Dean Elgar, who recently played a match defining innings for his country against India in the ongoing test series has been a wonderful opener for Proteas in test matches from past few years. In this article we will revisit the top five innings played by him.
The first in the list is his innings against England in which he scored an unbeaten 118 off 246 balls during 2015 England tour of South Africa in Durban. England bowling attack wreaked havoc as South Africa were dismissed for 214 in 1st innings and 174 in 2nd innings. Dean Elgar was the lone warrior trying to rescue his team in that match but could not save his team from defeat.
The second in the list is innings played by him during the 2014 South Africa tour of Sri Lanka at Galle in the first match of series. He scored 103 off 187 balls comprising 11 fours and 3 sixes and proved his ability to score runs in subcontinent conditions.
The third in the list is his knock against Australia in the Cape town test match during 2018 Australia tour of South Africa. He played a brilliant innings of 141* off 284 balls against the best bowling attack in the world at that time that consisted of Mitchel Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon thus helping his country to secure a win against mighty Australians.
The fourth in the list is his innings against India during the 2018-19 South Africa tour of India. In the first test match at Vishakhapatnam he scored superb 160 runs off 287 balls in the first innings against the spin duo of Jadeja and Ashwin. Though South Africa lost the test match and then the series but Dean proved his prowess in Indian conditions as well.
His one of the best innings came against India in the recently concluded test match where he sailed his team through victory by chasing 243 runs in the fourth innings. He scored an unbeaten 96 in Cape Town test in challenging conditions and which kept the series alive. He missed his century but nevertheless it was one of brave innings played by him. This was also the 4th highest total chased by South Africa at home.
