India v South Africa 1st Test day 3 review: India wraps up a win inside 3 days

India v South Africa 1st Test day 3 review: India wraps up a win inside 3 days: The story of a Test match on the Indian soil is as apt as an Indian documentary, You keep waiting for the climax and when it happens, it just leaves you spellbound.

India lost 8 wickets for 29 runs, but went on to win the match by a margin of 109 runs. The fact is that 86 runs between Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara is the highest partnership of the match, gives a clear impression of the challenging pitch. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli occupied the crease on day 3 morning, as India looked settled with an impressive lead of 142 runs.

The Indian captain could only add 18 runs to his overnight score, as Kohli went for the drive and ended up giving a catch to Vilas.

Cheteshwar Pujara looked settled but failed to move forward to a tossed up ball, as he lost his wicket to a spirited Imran Tahir with Hashim Amla taking a safe catch at slip. Pujara went for a vital 77, as India stretched their lead to 181 with 6 wickets to go.

Simon Harmer made full use of the conditions, as he got Ajinkya Rahane guessing. Rahane wasn’t fully committed to his front foot, and ended up edging one to Bavuma. The youngster who replaced Dale Steyn as a substitute, took two vital catches at forward short leg.

Ravindra Jadeja, who scored an important 38 in the first innings, joined Wriddhiman Saha at the crease. Both the batsmen picked up singles and blocked the uneven bounce. Saha clipped one over mid-off, while Jadeja slammed one straight to the fence. The lead started to look daunting, but Harmer trapped Jadeja in front, as umpire Dharmasena’s finger went up.

At 178-6, India hoped to stretch their lead to a competitive total, but the visitors did well to wrap up the Indian script on 200, as Imran Tahir scalped Saha’s wicket.

Simon Harmer and Imran Tahir shared 8 wickets between them, as South Africa were left to chase 218 on a turning track.

Vernon Philander came out to open the innings with Dean Elgar, as India looked to create early inroads. The decision to send Philander up early backfired, as Ravindra Jadeja got the better of the fast bowler, with the scoreboard reading 8-1.

The defensive tactics didn’t go down well with the visitors, as Ravichandran Ashwin sent Faf du Plessis packing for 1.

Ravindra Jadeja covered a lot of ground while celebrating, as the South African skipper left the ball, that carried on to hit the stumps.

AB de Villiers came in to bat with the visitors struggling at 10-3. He stroked a couple of boundaries, while Elgar silently moved to 13 with the help of one boundary. At 32-3, Amit Mishra uprooted AB de Villiers’s off stump, as the ball kept a bit low and without much turn.

This was the second time in the match that Amit Mishra had left AB de Villiers clueless.Opener Dean Elgar added 2 more runs to his score, as Varun Aaron sent him back to the pavilion.

Stiaan van Zyl top-scored for the visitors with a gritty 36 off 82 ball, courtesy 6 boundaries, as the Indian spinners never let the African batsmen to settle down.

The seventh wicket partnership of 42 runs between Harmer and Stiaan van Zyl turned out to be the highest one, as India cleaned up the tale in no time.

South Africa were shot for 109, while Ravindra Jadeja picked up 5 wickets for 21 runs.

Ravichandran Ashwin picked 3 wickets in the innings and 8 in the match, as India won the match by 108 runs. India takes a 1-0 lead in the 4 match series and Ravindra Jadeja bagged the man of the match award on his return.

Brief Score

India: 201 & 200 ( Pujara 77, Vijay 47, Tahir 4-48)

South Africa: 184 & 109 ( Stiaan van Zyl 36, Elgar 16, Jadeja 5-21)

India won the match by 108 runs.

Man of the match: Ravindra Jadeja