Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up two wickets as India reduced South Africa to 105/4 at lunch to inch closer to victory on the third day of the third Test at the Vidarba Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium here on Friday.
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Chasing a 310-run target, the visitors were bowled out for a mere 185 on day-3.
Ashwin then returned to perform the last rites and complete his 15th five-for (7 for 66) to complete another 10-wicket haul in a Test. That made him the leading Test wicket-taker in 2015, overtaking England fast bowler Stuart Broad.
Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were among the wickets on Thursday as India pressed for victory in the third test after dismissing South Africa for a meagre 79.
The defeat marked top-ranked South Africa’s first series loss overseas in nine years after the 2-0 setback in Sri Lanka in 2006.
India won the first Test in Mohali, followed by the Bangalore Test which ended in a draw with persistent rain denying play on four days.
Here are 5 reasons why South Africa struggled in the series against India, handing over the Freedom Trophy. Kohli believed it was a challenging wicket. I suppose one kind of consolation would be that the conditions we’ve had to play were probably never like we’ve had when we’ve played away from home, and that type of challenge we’ve never experienced before.
Kohli also didn’t forget Amit Mishra’s contribution.
From the start, the series has been dominated by the ball and India captain Virat Kohli isn’t complaining. “A batsman goes out to make a 100 and a bowler goes out to get a fifer, that’s how I do it”, Ashwin said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“The pitch was a hard factor”. They key is to win Test matches as I have said this before. Amla and du Plessis’s willingness to dig in resulted in the longest partnership for the team in the series, but it was maybe a case of too little too late, as India’s spinners remained in control to put their team on top.
“There were two teams out there, one was trying to fight and the other was trying to win – I feel that was the difference between the two teams”.
Faf du Plessis looked promising in his short stay at the wicket before he was bowled by Jadeja when he tried to hit the ball over mid-on, but played the wrong line.
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The only time they showed some gumption was when Amla and du Plessis defied the home attack from the first hour of the pre-lunch session till the end of the first hour after the break.
