Amla, Du Plessis Showed No Demons in Nagpur Pitch: Gavaskar

Ashwin – who has become Kohli’s main weapon – left-arm spinner Jadeja and leggie Mishra have become a risky combination for the opposition, especially at home.

On Thursday, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin finished with five for 32 and Jadeja took four for 33 on a dusty surface at the VCA stadium to bowl South Africa out in 33.1 overs, giving India a first-innings lead of 136 runs. “(There are) people sitting in other countries and speaking about pitches in India”, Kohli said.

Though the Proteas were better with the ball in the second innings as they dismissed India for 173, it meant South Africa were set an unlikely 310 to win on a wearing pitch with three days to play.

They now face the likelihood of losing their first away Test series in nine years.

Ashwin gave an insight into a smart cricketing brain when explaining how he changes his bowling approach in the second innings of a Test match.

South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir led the fightback with five for 38, while Morne Morkel’s three for 19 proved the seamers had some role to play. But nothing bothered “Sunny bhai” that day as in his last Test innings he fell short of a 100 by only four runs and India lost the game to Pakistan.

Ashwin’s second innings victims included three left-handers – the opening duo of Dean Elgar and Stiaan van Zyl, and Jean-Paul Duminy – apart from the prized wicket of AB de Villiers, the most successful batsman on this tour.

It was only a matter of time once Amla and Du Plessis departed, and Ashwin was back to finding the right spots on the pitch.

Skipper Hashim Amla (28 off 93 balls) and Faf du Plessis (22 in 66 balls) are holding fort for the side.

Dane Vilas was caught behind for 12, before Kagiso Rabada holed out to Kohli for six.

In this series, India won the first Test in Mohali by 108 runs before the rain-hit Bangalore Test.

He was struck on the pad by Ashwin in the first over after resumption and the strong appeal by the Indians was turned down.

Amla and Du Plessis showed character to combine for a resilient stand of 72 for the fifth wicket, with the skipper scoring just two boundaries in a dogged 167-ball knock. And hey, even if South Africa lose the fourth Test, too, at least they won’t lose the number one ranking, but it is about time that they start playing like it.

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.

Amla, whose highest score in the series is 43, edged a catch to Kohli at gully. I don’t think a Rest of the World XI would have avoided defeat in those conditions – provided India won the toss and batted first. “So credit to India, they bowled well and unfortunately we ended up on the wrong side of this game”.

From there on, the Proteas didn’t look back, some tight bowling by both seamers and spinners followed by wickets at regular intervals crippled India.

Delhi hosts the fourth and final test from December 3rd.

South Africa captain Hashim Amla called the Nagpur pitch “probably the toughest” he has played on after his team lost the third test and series to India on Friday.