Watch: South African batsmen once again submit to the Indian spinners

Published - 04 Dec 2015, 18:15 IST

2 Min Read

Watch: South African batsmen once again submit to the Indian spinners: The most ardent Indian fans were optimistic that South Africa would at least get to 250, in response to India’s 334; which would have been their highest total in the series given the way the Kotla pitch had behaved thus far in the 1 and a half day’s play. South Africa for a change had a good start, their best in the series, as both Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav operated in tandem and swung the ball.

It took a widish ball from Umesh to break through; the first to go was Dean Elgar who edged to wicketkeeper Saha to continue his poor run in the series. They went into Tea 1 down for 38 but soon after play resumed for the last session of the day, Ravindra Jadeja went through the defense of Temba Bavuma and once again in the series the incoming South African batsmen saw ghosts and were batting on a pitch of landmines that exploded every other over.

Mind you this isn’t a rank turner and the ball isn’t turning square, but like we have seen long enough in the series, the Protea batsmen lacked the mindset to apply against a spin bowling attack that was accurate and did not give them easy runs. Since there was nothing much to extract from the wicket Jadeja relied on his variations and bowled at a decent pace, on more occasions bowling in 90kmph range to deceive the batsmen with angles and by pace. He changed his release points as well and in the end it fruited for him getting him yet another five-wicket haul.

The fielding was good and so was the catching. AB de Villiers was the most determined batsman among the visitors like he has been throughout the series and it needed a stunning catch by Ishant Sharma to dismiss him. All the Indian bowlers got wickets, Ishant got one when he clean bowled Vilas on the ball that reversed into the batsman and he had no clues. Yadav had a couple and so did Ashwin while Jaddu sent half of the South African team back to the hut.