It was a day when the Indian spinners were expected to have a huge bearing on the result of the game on a wearing pitch. R Ashwin got things rolling by getting Theunis de Bruyn early on Day 5. And then Mohammed Shami got into the act - he smashed the stumps of Temba Bavuma as South Africa were three down in the first half hour.
The fast-bowler was not done yet, he went on to castle Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and Dane Peidt and in the process, became only the second Indian bowler to dismiss four batsmen in a single Test innings by knocking over their stumps. He joined Jasprit Bumrah, who achieved a similar feat in West Indies last month.
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Shami finished things off as he bowled a length ball on off stump and got it to tail away just a touch as Rabada looked to drive it on the up and nicked it behind to Wriddhiman Saha.
“It’s difficult to bowl on such a wicket because it was getting slower. So the plan was to bowl at the stumps. Jaddu and Ash bowled well. We knew variable bounce and reverse swing would help us in the second innings. So we tried to attack the stumps. It was important to get the top batters out as early as possible,” Shami said after the match.
{{/usCountry}}“It’s difficult to bowl on such a wicket because it was getting slower. So the plan was to bowl at the stumps. Jaddu and Ash bowled well. We knew variable bounce and reverse swing would help us in the second innings. So we tried to attack the stumps. It was important to get the top batters out as early as possible,” Shami said after the match.
{{/usCountry}}The other star on the day was Ravindra Jadeja, who ripped the heart out of South African batting by claiming 3 wickets in one single over to leave the Proteas gasping at 70 for 8.
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Also, off-spinner R Ashwin equalled former Sri Lanka bowler Muttiah Muralitharan’s world record of being the fastest to 350 Test wickets. The off-spinner attained the record after he picked up a wicket in the second over of the final day of the first Test between India and South Africa in Visakhapatnam. Ashwin bowled a low, turning one outside off-stump which was chopped on to the stumps by the Proteas batsman Theunis de Bruyn.