India vs South Africa, Highlights, 3rd Test Day 4 at Ranchi, Full Cricket Score: Dominance tells about mindset of team, says Kohli

Rohit Sharma is both Man of the Match and Man of the Series!

Rohit: I said it before, I am thankful to management for considering me for opening slot. I take a lot of positive, especially how to counter the new ball. It was a great learning experience for me. I will take my game forward from here,. I don’t want to let it go. 

I realised very soon that you need to have some discipline at start of your innings, I try to follow a certain template to have some success. There are lot of aspects that you need to be mindful of. I had support of management and captain. 

Test cricket is a different ball game, getting that big score gives confidence going forward. I was trying to be mindful of not throwing my wicket. I wanted to be there and bat for as long as possible to put the team in a good position.

Agree?

Ravi Shastri, India head coach: We did not care of pitch. We wanted 20 wickets. Whether it is Jo’burg or Mumbai, we look to remove the pitch factor and look to pick up 20 wickets. We wanted a team effort to take those wickets. And if our batting clicks, then everything is sorted. If you have bowlers who can take 20 wickets, we are good. Rahane was always going to play in middle order. He wanted to rediscover and he did that. Rohit Sharma was outstanding. He survived the first two hours on Day 1 morning session. Ball hit him on pads, beat him but he managed to survive. Dada ek hi hota hai, the opening batsman. 

I am extremely impressed by Nadeem. When he took the first wicket, I was like Bishan Singh Bedi must be watching and would have raised a toast for him. 420 plus FC wickets. He has put in the yards. It is his home crowd he starts his first Test and made it count. He bowled first three overs as maidens. He has experience he has to come out and perform. 

It is a team effort. Normally, you have two players taking the limelight. Here you have 7 to 8 players who contribute every time.

So it’s all over. India take the series 3-0 after winning the third Test by an innings and 202 runs. Totally outplayed their opponents. It’s an all-round performance by the team. The spinner, pacers and the batsmen did their job really well. 

A horrible tour for South Africa.

Oh wow this is some way to get! 

Ngidi, the new batsman hammers it straight down the ground but the ball ricochet off Nortje, the non striker and Nadeem takes the catch.

OUT!

Nadeem strikes in his first over of the day. The balls keeps low and De Bruyn dances down the track and gets an inside edge. Saha takes a really good catch.  de Bruyn c W Saha b Nadeem 30(49).

After 47 overs,South Africa 133/8 ( Theunis de Bruyn 30 , Anrich Nortje 5)

Shami starts off with straight to the stumps. He drifts down the leg for the second and concedes a single. For Nortje. Shami targets the stumps but also bowls a good bouncer in the fifth ball. The final ball is outside off and the carry to the keeper is really good. Just one run from the over.

Almost time for Day 4. India need just two wickets to clinch the Test. It has been a tough, tough tour for South Africa. They were probably expecting the rank-turners but it was actually Indian pacers who wrecked havoc. 

Theunis de Bruyn and Anrich Nortje are walking to the crease. We will only have to see how long they can fight it out.

Dominant India!

West Indies of 1980s, Australia of 2000s, are India on the brink of world cricket domination?

After witnessing two eras cricketing domination from close quarters, journalists Ayaz Memon and Gaurav Kalra, discuss with Vaibhav Shah whether Team India are on the brink of a third one.

Listen to the episode 3 of our podcast Yorked here .

We should have prepared more mentally, says Zubayr Hamza

“I will just say that maybe we should have prepared more mentally in terms of playing them in whatever conditions that we faced.”

More quote from South Africa batsman Hamza here .

‘Home specialist’ Umesh Yadav further bolsters India’s utopian pace stock

While this present burst is spectacular, Umesh Yadav has actually been quite a sensational asset for India when playing at home, both in the recent past as well as in the overall ambit of his career.

Click here to read Yash Jha’s piece on the Indian pacer.