Ravichandran Ashwin’s 12 wickets give India series victory over South Africa

It was always going to be a long shot, but after an initial fightback, the Proteas’ resistance eventually crumbled in Nagpur. The defeat also brought an end to South Africa’s nine-year winning streak in away Test series. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin led from the front, scalping seven wickets while Amit Mishra assisted him with three wickets.

South Africa need 278 more runs to win a dramatic third Test against India after a staggering 20 wickets fell on day two in a turning pitch in Nagpur.

Jean-Paul Duminy (15) and Dane Vilas (2) were not out at the break with South Africa still requiring another 159 runs with four wickets in hand. But the World Cup is where he made a decision to bowl of his off-spinners and use variations like his carom balls or his seam up deliveries, which at times suited Australian conditions.

It’s an extremely important day for South Africa.

For the hosts, opener Murali Vijay (40) was the top-scorer alongside Ravindra Jadeja (34) and Wriddhiman Saha (32) who provided some handy runs towards the end which helped the side cross the 200-run mark in the first innings. “I think that’s our main concern, we are not playing for records, we are not playing for numbers or averages”, Kohli told reporters after winning his fourth Test as captain after taking over from the MS Dhoni previous year.

“Whether we win or lose, we have to fight honourably”.

Manjrekar sung praises for Ashwin in the post-match interview. Sometimes that is just how the game goes. So that was probably the most hard (aspect). He is not trying too much.

“These have probably been three of the toughest days I have experienced in my Test career”, Amla said.

The track of Nagpur stadium was assisting spinners from day 1 and it was the biggest reason behind the fallback of wickets so quickly. Unfortunately the batsmen from both the sides have not shown the determination to bat on this and that is why we saw so many wickets fall. “The quality of the Indian spinners was certainly exceptional in these conditions, and you’ve got to give it to them”.

Starting the day at 11-2, the Proteas suffered a sensational collapse as they lost three wickets for one run in the first four overs to slip to 12-5.

The partnership was the second highest for South Africa in this series after the 76-run stand between Amla and Dean Elgar for the third wicket in the first innings of the Mohali Test.

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan (39) added 44 for the second wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara (31) and another 45 with captain Virat Kohli (16) to keep South Africa at bay before Tahir wrecked the Indian top order.