It took Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock centuries to revive South Africa before R Ashwin’s Five-For India helped reduce the number of visitors to 385/8 on the third day of the Visakhapatnam test on Friday, October 4.
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Elgar scored a stroke of 160 out of 287, a liquid inning that was occupied by 23 fours and six sixes, while de Kock scored from 163 to 111 to 117. Ashwin finished the day with a 5/128 return – his 27th Test -Five-wicket haul.
5 wickets for @ashwinravi99 👏👏👏👏👏 #TeamIndia #INDvSA @Paytm pic.twitter.com/yt8TsgqI2S
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 4, 2019
South Africa continued the day on 39/3, 463 runs behind, with Elgar unbeaten to 27 and Temba Bavuma to two. The guests lost to Bavuma at the start of their first session for 18 and Elgar was dropped by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha when the South African opener was 74.
Elgar sewed an important 115-run stand with skipper Faf du Plessis, who scored a steady 55 before Cheteshwar Pujara caught him from Ashwin’s bowling.
ICYMI | Proteas shine with the bat
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) October 4, 2019
What a day of cricket it has been:
1️⃣ Dean scores 160
2️⃣ Quinton scores 111
3️⃣ Faf hits a half-ton
4️⃣ 2 Important partnerships of 115 runs & 164 runs respectively
That's #ProteaFire 🔥#INDvSA #FreedomSeries pic.twitter.com/LgETYcUh9n
Du Plessis’ wicket was a big blow to South Africa, but Elgar did not seem to be affected by his release. He kept on milking and aimed mainly at the spin duo of Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Shortly after du Plessis’s dismissal, Elgar summed up his twelfth Test One with a six before Ashwin. Together with the batsman No. 7, Quinton de Kock, who also discovered timely gaps and from 79 balls reached his fifty, he continued to beat with sand.
Together, they split tea at 292/5, and the duo continued to share a brilliant 164-run stand before South Africa lost its star batsman Elgar for 160 in the last session.
It was Jadeja’s ball that did the trick and seduced Elgar into a fight. Instead, he prevailed against the ball, which was brilliantly caught by Pujara in the middle of the wicket. With Elgar’s release, the Indian spinner completed 200 test wickets in 44 games.
After Elgar’s wicket, de Kock raised his fifth test one hundred in a similar way to Elgar with a six from Ashwin, and was later clean-mouthed by the spinner.
South Africa ended the day with Senuran Muthusamy undefeated on the 12th with Keshav Maharaj joining him.
Great article. India is really looking strong here. Would be surprised if South Africa manages to get even close. What do you say?