India celebrate historic first test win in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG—India celebrated an historic first test win against South Africa on Monday with exuberant dressing room celebrations.
“There are some guys out there who have lost control in the dressing room, everyone’s gone a bit berserk,” captain Rahul Dravid, whose playing shirt was soaked in beer, told a news conference.
“It’s a special moment for this team to come to South Africa and win a test and we’re celebrating appropriately. “It’s good to get together and celebrate, but the boys need to learn how to drink the drink — not only to spray it around.”
India won by 123 runs after dismissing South Africa for 278 shortly before lunch on the fourth day. The victory was India’s first in the 10 test matches they have played in South Africa, the only test-playing country in which they had yet to achieve any success.
The result marked a dramatic departure from the pattern established in the one-day series between the teams, which South Africa won 4-0. “It’s not about proving things to people,” Dravid said. “I knew people were going to write us off, but I knew there was quality and resilience and some very good players in this group.
“The team was pretty hurt about our performances in the one-dayers. “We got together as a group and said we need to put in a better performance, and to fight better.”
The match was Dravid’s first since he injured his finger in the third one-day international in Cape Town on Nov. 26 but he said he had been confident of recovering in time to lead his team in the test series “I was determined to play this game,” Dravid said. “At no time did the thought cross my mind that I would not play.
“In fact, on the day I got injured I told the doctor I would play in the first test.” Dravid said hard work lay ahead for his men despite their triumph.
“South Africa will be disappointed with this loss, and we’re going to have to soak up a lot of pressure in the next game,” Dravid said. “We should take a lot of confidence from what we did in this test match, but then we’ve got to get ourselves ready.
“We’ll celebrate for a day or two and really start focusing on the next test, because there’s a lot of cricket to be played and I think we could play a lot better.” The second test starts in Durban on Dec. 26.—Agencies