India hands SA first away series loss in 9 years
India won the third Test match against South Africa by 124 runs at Nagpur on Friday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Freedom series. R Ashwin won the man of the match award for his twelve wickets in the match.
Brief Scores: India 215 (Vijay 40, Harmer 4-78, Morkel 3-35) and 173 (Dhawan 39, Tahir 5-38) beat South Africa 79 (Duminy 35, Ashwin 5-32, Jadeja 4-33) and (Amla 39, du Plessis 39, Ashwin 7/66, Mishra 3/51) by 124 runs
Carrom Ball and Ashwin finished it for India; an elated captain Kohli and his team went into celebration as India ended South Africa’s enviable away Test record. The defeat marks the Proteas’ first away Test series failure since their last series loss against Sri Lanka in 2006.
India were always the favourites on a pitch which turned from day one. Going into the third day, a South African defeat was almost certain - the only question was how quickly. After a paltry 79 in the first innings, not much was expected out of the Proteas line-up.
Ashwin started the day in the most expected fashion removing Elgar, thanks to a thick inside edge which lobbed back to Pujara at silly point. From the moment he walked in, AB de Villiers looked extremely uncomfortable on the Jamtha pitch. He tried stepping out, going back, but nothing worked for the superstar of South African batting.
If pitch played a part in the dismissal of de Villiers in the first innings, it was a brilliantly executed carrom ball that removed him in the second innings. Ashwin caught him plumb in front of the wicket to relieve the batsman of his misery on the Nagpur pitch. With the Proteas at 58/4, it looked like India would wrap up the match before lunch.
But, Amla and du Plessis joined hands to keep the Indians away from an easy victory. With the pitch slowing down, edges stopped carrying and Amla and du Plessis stuck in to frustrate the Indians. Amla was on a mission to stop the spinners and he along with du Plessis carried out a lesson on how to survive a world-class bowler on a dustbowl of a pitch.
After a wicket-less hour after lunch, Kohli brought in Ishant and Mishra. Mishra eventually broke the partnership between Amla and du Plessis, after a stand of 72 runs in 46.2 overs, the highest partnership of the match. A ball tossed up on off-stump took the edge of Amla’s bat and it carried to Kohli at gully to send the Indian players into ecstasy. Even before the umpire made a decision, Amla walked off the pitch and with it the Proteas’ hopes.
Du Plessis followed him soon after with a short ball from Mishra crashing into the stumps. The pitch played its part for the wicket with a low bounce, which out-did the batsman. Duminy came in next and tried to hit his way out of trouble with a few shots. Kohli brought back Ashwin to remove the tail and he answered the captain’s call with wickets. Ashwin picked the wickets of Duminy and Vilas in quick succession to register the 15 five-wicket haul of his career and second of the match. The ‘Superstar in the making’ was in the mood for more wickets as he removed Rabada and Morkel to finish off the match and take his wicket tally to 23 for the series.
With the series decided, India will take on South Africa on December 3 in the fourth Test of the Freedom series at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.