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'Having never won here, it's right up there with all the victories we have had.'
Captain Rohit Sharma rated the series-levelling seven-wicket victory in the second Test in Cape Town on Thursday as one of India's 'best victories' in the longest format, placing it right up there with the historic win against Australia at Gabba in 2021.
Riding on a terrific exhibition of fast bowling by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, both combining to pick 15 of the 20 South African wickets, India beat the hosts inside five sessions to complete a fine comeback in the second and final Test after suffering an innings and 32-run drubbing in the opener at Centurion.
"It will be one of our best Test match victories. Having never won here, it's right up there with all the victories we have had," the skipper said at the end of the shortest Test match in the history of the game.
He didn't wish to get drawn into comparisons but Rohit felt that winning a Test at Brisbane, where no visiting team could beat Australia for 33 years, was as big a deal as becoming the first Asian Test team to come up trumps at the pacey Newlands.
"It's hard to compare Tests which you win elsewhere. Hard to rank these Tests. Every Test match has it's own relevance and importance. The game in Gabba. The last time Australia lost there was 1988, I think. It became their fortress and the way we won that Test was important," said Rohit.
"You can't really rank the Tests. It's right up there though. That shows how important a venue it is to come here and win. Credit to the team."
He said, in a roundabout manner, that he would love to play in a three-match Test series but he would take this draw which was a good start to 2024.
"That's not in our hand. I can't decide fixtures, I would do something else entirely. What's there is there. We take pride in playing this series," the skipper answered when asked if a three-match series would have been ideal.
"We lost the first game, they played well. We won here, we played well. Cape Town, we have never won here, for this young group, this is matter of pride for us. We can take confidence from this series," said the Indian skipper.
India are back on top in the World Test Championship points table and the skipper said that winning this game was important after losing points due to slow over-rate.
"Winning Test matches is important. This start to the new year is good. But in my opinion, I didn't think about starting off the new year with a win. We also lost a couple of points due to over rate, so winning this was important."