Off-spinner Simon Harmer took four wickets while paceman Morne Morkel bagged three as South Africa skittled India for 215 in the first innings on the opening day of the third test on Wednesday.
Advertisement
South Africa had commenced the day at 32 for 2, needing 278 more runs on the hard spin-aiding pitch with opener Dean Elgar and skipper Amla at the crease.
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.
Off-spinner Ashwin took 5-32 in the first innings and shone again on Friday to move above Stuart Broad as the leading Test wicket-taker this year with 55 and give India an unassailable 2-0 lead with one match remaining. The second Test ended in a draw as rain washed out four days in Bengaluru.
In a watershed moment the Proteas have incured their first loss in a Test series away from home since 2006. Amla described the extreme conditions as the “three toughest days” of his 87-match Test career, but duly praised India’s spinners who took all 20 of South Africa’s wickets. I thought Amit bowled a wonderful spell after lunch, we prized out a couple of wickets in that post-lunch session.
After battling it out for 281 balls spread over nearly three hours, the longest partnership South Africa have managed in this series so far, Amla and du Plessis perished to Mishra in successive overs. Yesterday Ashwin mentioned that the pitch has slowed down a bit and that the spinners needed to beat the batsman in flight from here on.
A widely followed Test series finally saw some contest, but it came too late in the script for South Africa as the target of 310 proved too steep a mountain to climb on a challenging track. He showed much better application and footwork, notching up a well made 39 before being caught by skipper Virat Kohli off Mishra’s bowling. Dean Elgar started confidently with a slog-swept six over deep mid-wicket off Ashwin, but two balls later, the bowler had his revenge, inducing a bat-pad catch to silly point.
Advertisement
Amla offered an edge off the top half of his bat to perish in gully and in Mishra’s next over, Du Plessis lost his stump to a ball that kept low. Otherwise playing Test matches and making 500 runs…you don’t create bowlers like that and win Tests matches. I think they scored at about one run per over, and they were doing well to find a run.
