India vs South Africa Test series: Kohli and Co. complete 3-0 whitewash

Catch the highlights of day four of the third test between India and South Africa at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi.

Updated : Oct 22, 2019 16:45 IST , Ranchi

India's Umesh Yadav celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of South Africa's Quinton de Kock during the second day of the third Test between India and South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday.
India's Umesh Yadav celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of South Africa's Quinton de Kock during the second day of the third Test between India and South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday.
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India's Umesh Yadav celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of South Africa's Quinton de Kock during the second day of the third Test between India and South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday.

 

Well that will be all from us! Stay tuned to Sportstar for your regular dosage of everything sports. The match report will be up on our website shortly.

 

Ravi Shastri:  Our motto was to take pitches out of the equation.  'Bhaad me gaya pitch'  (to hell with the pitches). With the batting line-up we have, if they post big totals and then we have bowlers who can take 20 wickets - we can keep taking those world championship points we're after. Rahane was never going to go anywhere, he had to rediscover his touch which he's done. Rohit - different plane altogether. As an opener, your mindset has to be different. On the first day here, it was touch. Rohit worked his way out of it, but he kept thinking he had to work hard and cash in when the pitch gets better. That's what happened. Normally in India, you have two players who hog the limelight. Here we've had six or seven players. Extremely impressed with Nadeem. Yesterday when he got his first wicket, I was saying 'If Bishan Singh Bedi was watching, he would've said 'cheers young man'. It was a spinner's delight. To watch it from the outside was classical. 420 plus wickets, the guy has put in the yards, about time he gets the distance. Glad he finished off the game. In front of his home crowd. To take four wickets, what was remarkable was the way he started. There was no nerves, first three overs were maidens. Every ball was on the spot. That's because of his experience.

Mohammed Shami:  We're always ready. We know how to bowl in Indian conditions now. We're always prepared. The team management gives us the confidence, the fields we want. The crowds are always behind us. The focus is always on consistency. Fitness is important, that's become a revolution in this side. As far as confidence goes, we've all improved over the last four-five years. All of us enjoy each other's success. As a fast bowler, the unit has improved. We've taken a step ahead of the spinners by working hard, the results are in front of all of us.

Mayank Agarwal:  I was happy to make my debut in Australia, to make whatever little contributions we can for the team. It's hard work over a period of many years that we're able to produce these results for the team. But kudos to the bowlers, for all the hard work they've put in and bowl the way they have. It's a lot of fun standing at short leg and seeing the opposition batsmen facing the heat, ducking and weaving out of the way or trying to fend. Shami, Ishant, Umesh and Bumrah keep giving back what they get. Not just bounces, they bowl wicket-taking balls. Good balls.

The official broadcaster Star Sports has some interviews lined up.

Two overs was all it took. Ayan was right: two overs and 10 minutes, was what he had repeated on a call. 11 minutes was what it actually was, but that is alright.

This is now India's biggest Test win over South Africa surpassing the previous best in Pune a few day ago. India now tops the ICC World Test Championship table with a score of 240 points after 5/5 wins. New Zealand and Sri Lanka with 60 points each are ranked at number 2 and 3 respectively.

Shahbaz Nadeem answers my previous question in the negative. 2 in 2 for him as the spinner finishes with four wickets in the third Test - two in each innings.

First, he gets rid of Elgar's concussion substitute de Bruyn, courtesy a bottom edge to Saha. The 'keeper takes a sharp catch off another delivery which skidded on and kept dangerously low.

The second wicket was that of paceman Anrich Nortje and that is the one which hands India a 3-0 win.

What is however, worse is, after Elgar there is one more injury concern for the Proteas now. Nadeem goes for the flighted delivery and 'new man in' Lungi Ngidi swings hard at it to find Elgar at the non-striker's end. Nadeem pouches it on the rebound. Nortje, however, is visibly in pain after being smacked on his left wrist.

And we are underway. Good news: Wriddhipops is back! He was replaced by Rishabh Pant for a brief period at the end of Day 3.

Mohammed Shami has been handed the new ball, with two dismissals remaining to get to his fifer. Will he snap up both the remaining wickets?

Update from the centre: Dean Elgar, who suffered a blow to the head off Umesh Yadav's bowling on Monday, is present with the team at the venue. However, the soonest he can return to play is in six days' time in keeping with the standard concussion management protocol.

Theunis de Bruyn was named the approved concussion substitute for Elgar. He returned unbeaten at 30 off 42 balls (4x4, 1x6) at stumps on Day 3.

 

"Couple of balls/overs" is what Ayan believes. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

 

 

Missed out on the Day 3 action? Worry not! Here is our correspondent Ayan Acharya's Monday report:

Mohammad Shami and  Umesh Yadav  ran through South Africa's batting twice in one day, as the visiting side lost a mindboggling 16 wickets to finish on the cusp of a crushing 3-0 whitewash at the JSCA Stadium on Monday. 

It was the fifth ball of the first over in the morning. There was rain in the air and seamers were going to be the flavour of the session with the Proteas resuming at nine for the loss of two wickets. Three slips were waiting to pouch an edge, but Umesh Yadav had just dished out successive leg-stump deliveries to  Zubayr Hamza,  who scored seven off the two balls before giving the strike back to  Faf du Plessis.

Day three:   As it happened

Du Plessis can't be blamed for being briefly flummoxed by what happened next. Umesh landed the ball on the seam around middle and off before it nipped away just enough to beat the outside edge and crash into the stumps. Having lost their skipper three minutes into the day's play, Hamza and Temba Bavuma then went about the business of repairing the damage. 

The duo, at one stage, scored at a rate of more than five runs an over with Hamza looking good on the front foot. He got behind the line and looked to play straight, getting value for his shots, the pick of them a gorgeous straight drive past Mohammad Shami.

Shami ran through South Africa's top order with three wickets in the second innings. Photo: AP

The 24-year-old got to his maiden Test fifty off just 56 balls, with a maximum over mid-on off Ravichandran Ashwin. There was a fear that, under pressure, the Proteas would revert to the timidity that has characterised theirbatting in this series. 

Hamza allayed the fears - albeit briefly - by playing some eye-catching, aggressive cricket. But just when he was growing in confidence, Ravindra Jadeja brought an end to the 91-run stand with one that sped on, beat Hamza's bat and hit the leg-stump.

A familiar sight

The very next over, Shahbaz Nadeem got his first Test wicket when he had Bavuma stumped. It was a flighted delivery around middle and leg, that turned and bounced past an advancing Bavuma's outside edge, only for Wriddhiman Saha to take the bails off in a flash. Then wickets fell like nine pins in a bowling alley. Heinrich Klaasen. Dane Piedt. Kagiso Rabada.

It was an all too familiar sight. South Africa, like on a few occasions before in this series, looked like it will put on a fight but somehow, almost always fell short.

READ  |  Shami, Umesh forcing the initiative with right line and lengths

Immediately after lunch, Shami bowled a barrage of bouncers to new man Anrich Nortje, hitting him twice on the shoulder and the elbow once. Kohli, aware that the weather and fading light could become a factor later in the day, was on the lookout for wickets and set attacking fields. While Nadeem bowled with three close catching men, Jadeja had five at times. 

George Linde and Nortje delayed the follow-on with a stodgy 32-run stand for the ninth wicket, but couldn't prevent South Africa from folding for 162: the third time it was bowled out for under 200 in the series.

Shahbaz Nadeem had Bavuma stumped to claim his maiden Test wicket. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

If the Proteas thought the second innings was going to be any better, Yadav gave them a reality check, sending Quinton de Kock's stumps cartwheeling with a length ball around off and middle. 

Shami joined the fun, removing Hamza, du Plessis and Bavuma in quick succession. Meanwhile, Dean Elgar retired hurt after being hit above the ear by a Yadav delivery. Theunis de Bruyn became the game's third concussion substitute after it was confirmed that Elgar would not bat again. But it mattered little in the end as South Africa's middle order came undone. The play was extended by half-an-hour but bad light put an end to India's hopes of claiming the final two wickets and force the result tonight.

Where to watch?

You can watch the match on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD with English commentary and tune in to Star Sports 3 and Star Sports 3 HD for Hindi commentary. You can also watch the live streaming on Hotstar .

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