India break through South Africa wall

Virat Kohli wins maiden series at home

India withstood a masterclass from A.B. de Villiers to wrap up the fourth and final Test by 337 runs en route to a 3-0 series win against South Africa at the Kotla here on Monday afternoon.

It was the first series victory for Virat Kohli at home and the second in a row after their triumph in Sri Lanka, but it was also a game that will be remembered for South Africa’s refusal to give up despite being pushed to the wall.

Set a near impossible 481 to chase in the final innings – the visitors were bowled for 121 in their first innings to India’s 334 and 267/5 declared — South Africa played their longest innings of this series and batted close to five sessions before their end came at 143 from 143.1 overs. At the heart of the fight back were A.B. de Villiers and Hashim Amla, whose knocks had character and grit written all over them.

The visitors’ time-consuming tactics had forced India to try out different bowlers on Day Four – South Africa had crawled to 72/2 in as many overs – and the hosts were eager to make a kill of it on Day Five.

Amla lasted for 37 deliveries on Monday morning — adding just two to his overnight score of 23 in 207 deliveries — before Ravindra Jadeja (2/26) foxed him with a flighted delivery to bring about the breakthrough. The ball spun and clipped the outside of his off-stump to end the skipper’s dogged knock.

It though was not the end of South Africa’s stonewalling tactics. The mantle was passed to de Villiers and long innings specialist Faf du Plessis (10, 97 balls) and the duo did exactly what they had set out to – block everything that came their way in their effort to push for a draw. Du Plessis took 53 deliveries for his first run and the duo were unseparated for 35.1 overs in a fourth-wicket stand, leaving the hosts frustrated.

Jadeja kept trying different things while pacer Umesh Yadav (3/9 from 21 overs) too posed questions but the batsmen’s only concern was to stay at the crease. At one stage, Jadeja bowled 12 consecutive maidens before he finally got rid of du Plessis.

J.P. Duminy and Dane Vilas followed, but de Villiers kept the battle alive as South Africa reached 136/5 at tea and needed to bat out one more session for an epic draw. de Villiers (43) faced a mammoth 297 balls lasting five hours and 45 minutes and when man of the series Ravichandran Ashwin (5/61) saw him off post tea, it was just a matter of time. India completed the formality in a space of 27 balls.

Scoreboard India (Ist innings): 334 South Africa (Ist innings): 121 India (IInd innings: 267/5 decl. South Africa (IInd innings, o/n 72/2): D. Elgar c Rahane b Ashwin 4, T. Bavuma b Ashwin 34, Hashim Amla b Jadeja 25, AB de Villiers c Jadeja b Ashwin 43, Faf du Plessis lbw b Jadeja 10, J.P. Duminy lbw b Ashwin 0, Dane Vilas b Yadav 13, Kyle Abbott b Yadav 0, Dane Piedt c Saha b Yadav 1, Morne Morkel b Ashwin 2, Imran Tahir (not out) Extras (b8, lb3) 11 Total (in 143.1 overs) 143 FoW: 1-5, 2-49, 3-76, 4-111, 5-112, 6-136, 7-136, 8-140, 9-143 Bowling: Ishant 20-12-23-0, Ashwin 49.1-26-61-5, Jadeja 46-33-26-2, Yadav 21-16-9-3, Dhawan 3-1-9-0, Vijay 2-0-2-0, Kohli 1-1-0-0, Pujara 1-0-2-0.