"I'm always team over personal performances; I don't play for the accolades" - Dean Elgar
South African captain Dean Elgar asserted that the team always comes first for him over personal landmarks. The opener declared that he plays the game to win for his teammates after leading the Proteas to a seven-wicket win in the second Test against India.
Dean Elgar stood firm on a challenging wicket on Day Four of the second Test against India. Chasing 240, the skipper led from the front and scored 96 to fashion a seven-wicket victory. The win was also the Proteas' first in the format against India at the Wanderers.
Captain Dean Elgar inspired South Africa to a historic win over India at the Wanderers 💪
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Elgar, who secured the Man of the Match award, stated that team goals always come first and personal milestones are hardly significant. The 34-year-old credited his teammates for a series-leveling win and said, as quoted by News24:
"It's another win as a captain and I'm always team over personal performances. I am team over accolades. I don't play for the accolades. I don't play for personal gain. I play for my teammates and I play for winning. That's why I play this game."
He added:
"It's a special day and I guess luck was on my side because I happened to be there to get the team over the line with my other teammates. I'm not going to exclude them from their achievements from the last four days."
The veteran received support from all the batters in the second innings as South Africa took it to the decider in Cape Town. He shared two half-century stands with Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma, who stayed unbeaten with the skipper.
"I set myself a goal to bat for 40 overs" - Dean Elgar
A captain’s knock in every sense
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Elgar revealed setting himself a goal to bat for 40 overs and was glad his opening stand with Aiden Markram went according to the plan. The southpaw said he decided to take the blows for those 40 overs and shift the pressure afterward. He said:
"I set myself a goal to bat for 40 overs and that kind of breaks the new ball up. As an opening pair, we haven't come off in the way that we would have liked but we did in the second innings and that really helped us."
He added:
"In those 40 overs, it doesn't matter what I score because on Day Two, they bowled a serious spell to me and I had to respect what was going my way. The minute I go out of my box, I'm going to go out and put the team under more pressure so I'd like to think I took a bit of sting out of their tail."
The third and final Test starts on January 11 at the Newlands in Cape Town. India still have a chance to seal their first Test series victory in South Africa. However, the hosts will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to prevent this.