India defeated South Africa in the first Test of the three-match series by 203 runs in Vizag. With this win, India gathered another 40 points and are remain no.1 in the ICC Test Championship rankings with 160 points.
Though the Man of the Match was awarded to Rohit Sharma for his twin hundreds on his debut as an opener, it was pacer Mohammad Shami and spinner Ravindra Jadeja who did the damage in the second innings. Jadeja picked three wickets in an innings to rout the Proteas, ending up with 4/87; Shami went one better and picked 5/35, showing that he is the best when it comes to bowling in second innings of a Test.
During his five-wicket haul, Shami also achieved a unique feat of clean bowling four batsmen in an innings, something that only Jasprit Bumrah has done so far for India. He started with Temba Bavuma and demolished the furniture of Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and Dan Piedt as well. He finished things off as he bowled a length ball on off stump and got it to tail away just a touch as Rabada looked to drive it on the up and nicked it behind to Wriddhiman Saha.
“It’s difficult to bowl on such a wicket because it was getting slower. So the plan was to bowl at the stumps. Jaddu and Ash bowled well. We knew variable bounce and reverse swing would help us in the second innings. So we tried to attack the stumps. It was important to get the top batters out as early as possible,” Shami said after the match.
When @mdshami.11 strikes ???????? #TeamIndia #INDvSA
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