India v South Africa Test series – Indian Player Ratings

India v South Africa Test series – Indian Player Ratings: The victory wasn’t easy for India this time. The Test was an easy ride for Virat Kohli & Co. until the Kotla Test. They were made to toil for nearly 143 overs by Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis. They had to work incredibly hard for this 337-run victory. South Africa showed tremendous resistance and Ashwin, Jadeja, Umesh and Ishan faced the gritty challenge bravely. Despite such sluggish batting show by Proteas, the intensity never dropped.

There was anticipation from the crowd before every ball was delivered. The first South Africa batsman lasted 138.4 overs! Until tea, South Africa looked very solid and a draw was looking like a possibility. But, fate changed and the Proteas lost five wickets in the space of 31 balls just after coming back from tea. The score in the end read 143/10 in 143.1 overs!

It was a superb Test overall. There was resolute batting from both the sides, spin, pace, reverse swing and conclusion of the match in the final session of the final day. Twin centurion Ajinkya Rahane was adjudged as the Man of the Match while Ravichandran Ashwin was the Man of the Series. In India’s last six Test series wins, Ashwin has been India’s leading wicket-taker in all of them. India wrapped the Test Series 3-0 and jumped to the second position in the Test rankings.

Here are the Indian Player Ratings for the performance throughout the 4 match Test series:

Murali Vijay 7/10:

Murali Vijay was India’s most dependable man at the top of the order. Vijay started the series on a very positive note, scoring a half century in the very match of the series. However, his performance shrunk a little as the series progressed. His batting partner Shikhar Dhawan was struggling and his decent show in the series helped India’s batting to an extent. Overall in the series, Vijay accumulated 210 runs at an average of 35. His best innings of the series (75) came in the first innings of the first Test.

Also Read – India v South Africa Test series – South Africa Player Ratings