Chasing an unlikely 310 to level the series, the Proteas were bowled out for 185 on day three with spin kings Ashwin and Mishra sharing the 10 wickets between them as India moved 2-0 in front.
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The in-form AB de Villiers also played at a delivery early and Jadeja gleefully accepted the easy return catch off a leading edge as South Africa fell to 12-5, the lowest ever score at which it lost half its side in a test match.
The Indian bowlers made merry on the crumbling pitch with Mishra (3-40) and Ashwin (3-50) picking up crucial wickets.
India, which had taken a 136-run first innings lead and then scored 173 in its second innings, won the first test at Mohali by 108 runs and settled for a draw in the rain-marred second test at Bangalore.
Ashwin totally outplayed the Proteas as he bagged his second five-fer of the match and seven wickets in total in the second innings, claiming 12 wickets in the game.
South Africa lost a series away from home for the first time in nine years. Ashwin and Jadeja became less effective with the old ball and even though initially hemmed in by a slip, gully, silly point and leg trap, du Plessis and Amla played confidently to disperse the men around their bat. It’s a really disappointing to lose the series away from house after 9 years. While “diabolical” has been a popular description of the pitch, there have also been talks about the poor quality of cricket on display and suggestions for holding 3-day Test matches.
The visitors stared a tough task going into the third day on a turning track, starting the day at 32 for 2, needing to score 278 more runs.
Legspinner Amit Mishra dismissed Duminy, the top scorer for the touring side, who resumed the day on 11-2.
Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla forged a dogged resistance, but scoring runs was always a task as the duo’s stand clearly showed – 72 runs in 46.2 overs.
South African captain Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis defied India’s spinners to delay the hosts’ march towards a series-winning victory in the third Test in Nagpur on Friday. In the last few years if you see the stats of any team they have dominated at home and that is how Test cricket has gone. If I look at their first innings they were about 30 runs too much from our bowling perspective.
As has been the theme of the series, Indian spinners dictated the course of the game with R Ashwin (7/66) claiming his third five-wicket haul of the series.
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In the post match media conference, Kohli said that the team is happy that India’s three spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra – have come good despite the negative press about the pitch.
