Ashwin shines as India clinch series with third Test win

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (C) celebrates with teammates after claiming the wicket of South African captain Hashim Amla in first innings on the second day of the third cricket Test match at Nagpur on Thursday.

Given the high standards Murali Vijay has set himself in the past 18 months, he wouldn’t have been happy with how he got out in the second innings. Perhaps not trusting his defence enough, he moved around in and out of his crease and seemed largely uncomfortable before Ashwin put him out of his misery with a brilliant carrom ball that trapped him leg before.

South Africa struggled to counter Indian spinners as they have been bundled out for 185 of their second innings whereas chasing a frightening goal of 310 on a dusty and dry pitch on the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.

In a test match that saw 32 wickets tumble on the first two days, the pair showed grit and determination to thwart the Indian bowlers for more than 46 overs before Mishra separated them.

Plessis, however, has taken just 66 balls to get his 23 with two fours and a six as he stitched an unbeaten 47 runs stand for the fifth wicket with his skipper. Credit to India, they bowled nicely. There hasn’t been a hundred in the series yet and just a handful of fifties, and that’s for both teams.

The pitch, however, played a major part in the Test match as it began to wear significantly on day one and negated the impact of the fast bowlers to a large extent.

# India have won three Tests and lost one out of five played at Jamtha, Nagpur (drawn one). Although he didn’t pick up any wickets, he kept things quiet, had the Proteas batsmen on their toes with his reverse swing and is only enhancing his reputation as the leader of India’s pace attack. Bowling: Ishant Sharma 3-1-6-0, R Ashwin 6-2-12-1, Ravindra Jadeja 4-2-6-0, Amit Mishra 1-0-3-1. I assume chasing 200 would have been extra apt.

The drama did not end there, however, as India were then bundled out for 173 to remarkably leave the tourists with an outside hope of a series-levelling win.

Hashim Amla said, “Obviously very disappointing”.

The 29-year-old off-spinner plundered seven wickets as India thrashed South Africa inside three days to secure an unassailable 2-0 series lead. Dhawan (39) and Pujara (31) appeared to calm the nerves, and at 97 for 2 India’s batsmen were doing a fine job of debunking the claim that this pitch was diabolical. I found it hard to use him in the first innings, because of leaking up runs here and there, and I certainly felt Simon [Harmer] was somebody who could get us a wicket as well as keep it tight.

The in-form AB de Villiers also played at a delivery early and Jadeja gleefully accepted the easy return catch off a leading edge as South Africa fell to 12-5, the lowest ever score at which it lost half its side in a test match.

That handed India a first-innings lead of 136 which was enhanced further as they progressed to 97 for two before suffering a collapse of their own. In the first innings, Imran Tahir was largely ineffective.