India have halted South Africa's unbeaten run in an overseas series for the last nine years with a fine win in Nagpur, and that is some feat. This South African team is not only ranked the No. 1 team, but over the years, they have shown they can play in all sorts of conditions and on all sorts of pitches. Unfortunately, this time around, their batting didn't quite come to the party. The top-order was out of form and therefore they did not believe in their ability to defend when the ball was doing something. That showed in the way they got dismissed for 79 runs.
In the second innings, they learnt something, particularly their captain Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis who have played many a match saving innings for his team. It was good to see the resistance showed by them. During their partnership, they showed that it might be difficult to score, but it was not an impossible wicket to bat on.
The Nagpur pitch unfortunately has got maligned a little too much, unnecessarily. It wasn't the ideal wicket, but then do you want a perfect wicket to bat on? You do not. Therefore what Amla and du Plessis showed was lots of patience and application. You can stick around and make sure you don't get out when the game is of five days and you have over two days to get those runs.
R Ashwin's delivery to AB de Villiers was the one to stand out. He set the champion batsman up brilliantly. The first ball turned a little bit, and ABD let it go past his pads. The next ball, he went down the wicket in a pre-meditated fashion, but Ashwin had read his mind and therefore brought the carrom ball, which ABD had to pad away. The next ball was another carrom ball, but this time on a good length. ABD had decided that since he had been outhought on the previous delivery, he would stay in his crease. Not going fully forward or back was an invitation to disaster and that is exactly what happened. He thought it was an off-spinner and didn't read it. He looked to play on the on-side, missed the ball and was plumb in front.
The Indians were absolutely top-class. Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja may not have got wickets, but they kept the pressure on. R Ashwin got 12 wickets and was named Man of the Match. Whatever he does in Delhi, he will clearly be the Man of the Series as well.
