What is India's highest successful chase against South Africa at home before IND vs SA 2025 1st Test?

India are hosting South Africa for a two-match Test series at home. In the ongoing first Test, the hosts first bowled the Proteas out for 159. They got to 189, taking a 40-run lead. South Africa were then bowled out for 153 in their second innings, setting the hosts a 124-run target.

Their highest successful chase against South Africa at home before the ongoing Test came back in 2004. Coincidentally, this chase also came at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. It was the second Test of the series.

Batting first, South Africa posted a total of 305 with Jacques Kallis scoring a brilliant 121. Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan bagged three wickets each with the ball. In reply, India put up a total of 411 with Virender Sehwag (88) and Rahul Dravid (80) scoring half-centuries.

They then bundled the visitors out for 222 as Harbhajan Singh starred with a seven-wicket haul in that innings. Finally, India had to chase 117 runs to win the match, which they did successfully.

They got past the target in 39.4 overs with eight wickets remaining. While they lost Sehwag early, Gautam Gambhir and Dravid stitched a decent partnership. However, Gambhir was also dismissed with the hosts at 60/2. Sachin Tendulkar then joined Dravid, and the two remained unbeaten to take India to victory. Dravid struck 47* while Tendulkar made 32*.

With this, the hosts had also won the two-match Test series 1-0.

A shaky start for India in the chase in IND vs SA 2025 1st Test

Chasing 124 to win the first Test and take a lead in the series, the hosts made a shaky and nervy start, losing both their openers in quick succession. South Africa made early inroads to keep themselves alive in the game while defending a low total.

They reduced the hosts to 1/2 in just 2.1 overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal was first dismissed for a four-ball duck in the first over of the innings. Marco Jansen provided the visitors with the breakthrough.

He struck again in the third over to send KL Rahul back to the hut for just one run. With the hosts in early trouble, they will need one good partnership to ease the pressure and get to the target on a difficult batting surface.

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Edited by Rishab Vm