Spinners’ Master-Stroke turns Mohali Test in Favour of India

But South Africa, who trailed by 17 runs on first innings, failed to come to grips with the conditions.

South African part-time spinner Dean Elgar turned out to be the unlikely hero as India squandered the advantage of winning the toss after being bundled out for a paltry 201 on an engrosssing opening day of the first cricket Test here today.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin led India’s spin assault with five wickets to send South Africa reeling on the second day of the first Test in Mohali on Friday.

That quickly escalated to 60-6 before Stiaan van Zyl (36) and Simon Harmer (11) showed a few resilience with a seventh-wicket stand of 42. With the win, India have taken a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

As the day’s play started Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara held the side well for a good start but fell prey to the South African’s Bowlers.

Kohli admitted bowlers dominated the contest but said not a single dismissal was caused by any delivery which reared up awkwardly from a track sporting several cracks and offering big turn from day one.

“Ours is a young team and we are trying to build a strong team together. A lot of credit to the boys for bouncing back after the loss in the limited-over series”.

“I think he is struggling”, Henderson said of Steyn.

Elgar returned in his next over to dismiss wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for a first ball duck before Jadeja (38) saw off the hat-trick delivery. Both batsmen applied themselves well and looked far more comfortable than the rest in both innings.

Mohali: While there has been a lot of negative talk on the Mohali pitch, Indian skipper Virat Kohli rebuffed critics by saying that there were “no real demons in the pitch” and it were the “soft dismissals” that highlighted a low-scoring Test match that the home team won inside three days.

“Two hundred was a gettable total, probably 150 would have been more realistic”, Amla said.

India’s Ravindra Jadeja (top left) celebrates with his teammates after dismissing South Africa’s captain Hashim Amla (with bat). When the ball is turning and the wickets are falling, you get that confidence and then the ball comes out properly from your hand. And the Proteas soon finished off the proceedings as they bowled out India for 200.

India lost their overnight batsmen after the first hour play as Hashim Amla’s rotation of bowlers worked for the visitors. It was a dream start for the comeback man Ravindra Jadeja who trapped the surprise opener Vernon Philander plumb in front of the wicket.

So it was not that only South Africa lacked the skill and tenacity to survive on a fast deteriorating surface.