South Africa dismissed for 121, behind India by 213 runs

Ashwin, now the leading wicket-taker in the series, hit Tahir for a six to bring up his sixth test fifty to prove he was no dud with the bat either.

The right-handers outing on Indian soil doesn’t make a good read but Ajinkya Rahane would have been relieved after this effort.

Kyle Abbott (5-40) eventually did for Ashwin and then removed Ishant Sharma for a duck to end India’s innings, yet the joy from the second five-for of his career was short-lived. More than two years down the line, he made it count at Delhi with a century that may have helped setup a 3-0 series win over South Africa. The pair added 98 runs for the 8th wicket and took the team close to the 300-run mark.

It was a combination of disciplined bowling and some reckless batting that led to South Africa’s downfall.

For South Africa, the dropped catches kept on hurting them, as a chance from Rahane went begging while he was in the “nervous-nineties”.

In the ongoing Kotla Test too, the visiting team was bowled out for 121 in reply to India 334, courtesy Ravindra Jadeja’s five-wicket haul.

Resuming on 7-231, Rahane and Ashwin saw off the second new ball and went about punishing the spin attack on a bright and sunny day in New Delhi.

The visitors, who have already lost the series, trail by 296 runs with nine wickets in hand.

It was way back in 1996 that an Indian batsman coming out to bat at No. 9 had scored 50 or more runs against South Africa since Anil Kumble’s heroics in Kolkata where he had slammed 88 runs.

Overnight batsman Ajinkya Rahane was the highest scorer with 127. I wanted to build partnerships with the other batsmen.

Umesh Yadav was particularly impressive after he started the rot with the wicket of Dean Elgar, before also plucking out JP Duminy’s off stump in his two for 32. The first was an angled delivery which Rahane danced down the track to hit wide of long on.

India chose not to enforce the follow-on but the umpires called off play deeming the light unfit for the game to carry on any further in the day. But his audacity finally caught up with him when hereached out for a drive through covers, but ended up going straight to de Villiers.

The prodigal Tahir, who was used for just seven overs on Thursday, gave away 66 runs from 16 overs while taking the prized scalp of Rahane.