South Africa Test skipper Hashim Amla rued a number of missed opportunities and admitted that his side failed to perform to their full potential during his side’s 124-run defeat in the third Test against India in Nagpur on Friday.
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Some credit though should go to Ashwin and Jadeja for exploiting the pitch, which leg-spinner Tahir too would go on do in the Indian second innings. He showed much better application and footwork, notching up a well made 39 before caught by India captain Virat Kohli off Mishra’s bowling.
South African batsmen are really testing the patience of Indian bowlers as the scorecard crawls to 118 for 4. It was also South Africa’s lowest total since their return to Test cricket in 1992. Every run seemed like a bonus.
Ashwin, who took five wickets in the first innings, had Elgar caught bat-pad at silly-point for 18 and then de Villiers was beaten by a ball that trapped him lbw for nine. He conceals his carom balls beautifully, his temperament has improved by leaps and bounds in the past one year and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to even say that Ashwin is amongst some of the best spin bowlers in the world today.
FINALLY! some resistance from South African batsmen. Dane Villas got an unplayable delivery from Jadeja; the ball turning sharply to hit off stump. If Ashwin troubled the batsmen from one end, Jadeja did the same from the other end.
The particular delivery stopped, climbed a bit, and a moment of indecision resulted in a leading edge which the left-arm spinner ran towards short mid-on to convert. Elgar is someone who has bowled extremely well for South Africa, however, he has been underused. He hit the spinners out of the ground a couple of times but ran out of partners.
However, Tahir was causing problems with his leg spin and dismissed three of India’s top five. However, they lost the wickets of Dean Elgar and AB DeVillers quite quickly. The pair looked more confident in the second session, but the runs did not come easy as they scored just 21 off 19 overs in the first hour after lunch before both were dismissed in successive overs from Mishra. Wickets kept falling, though there were small partnerships.
Opener Murali Vijay set an unwanted record, his first-innings knock of 40 becoming India’s lowest-ever high score in a Test match victory.
But the early runs from Shikhar Dhawan and Chesteshwar Pujara, scoring 39 and 31 respectively, had perhaps already steered India into clear water well before they were bowled out for 173. Score 35/6 (Duminy 13*) Just when it was looking that du Plessis and Duminy are on their way to stitch a good partnership, du Plessis threw his wicket away with a poor show.
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Tahir (5-38) was introduced late into the attack and he straightaway made impact as got Dhawan nicking to the keeper to reduce India to 97 for three.
