Shami fifer floors South Africa as India go 1-0 up

[Torrent Disney]

Mohammed Shami has earned the moniker 'second-innings Shami' with good reason. His average drops 12 runs to 22, and he picks a wicket every 42 balls as compared to 60 in first innings. So there could be little surprise that it was he, who led India's victory charge on the fifth day, picking up his fifth five-wicket haul. Complementing him well was Ravindra Jadeja who went on a roll picking three wickets in an over, adding to his one wicket from Day 3.

All of that added up to South Africa being left a trifle embarrassed after their stellar batting show in the first innings. They were saved a few blushes by a tail that wagged, with Dane Piedt and Senuran Muthusamy adding 91 for the ninth wicket. But all that did was delay the inevitable result of India going 1-0 up in the three-match series.

South Africa had started the day aiming for a blockathon with 9 wickets remaining. That quickly reduced to 8 as Theunis de Bruyn played an ill-fated cut and was bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin, making him the joint-quickest to 350 Test wickets.

Thereafter, it was Shami who used the indentations on the pitch to great effect and targeting the stumps relentlessly. Temba Bavuma was floored by a shooter, Faf du Plessis was left with a wry smile after losing his off stump to one jagging in low. Quinton de Kock too found one moving in and going under his bat to hit the stumps. As South Africa slipped to 60/5, Shami had single-handedly snuffed out any possibility of a miracle halfway into the first session.

Adding to the carnage was Ravindra Jadeja with a three-wicket over, which included a sharp return catch to nip Aiden Markram's counter-attack in the bud. The opener had lofted Jadeja for a couple of boundaries in the previous over but found Jadeja's outstretched left hand ending his stay. With ripping turners past the defense, Jadeja proceeded to get Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj LBW in almost identical fashion off successive deliveries, and with DRS siding with him.

The innings went beyond the first session thanks to Piedt and Muthusamy who stuck to their methods, albeit with a lot of good fortune. Even as chances went between fielders, both batsmen managed to get boundaries against the spinners with the ball softening, and added to India's frustration post the break.

When Kohli turned to Shami once again, he delivered first ball, getting Piedt to drag on after a sprightly 56. Shami added Rabada to his scalps a little later to finish with his fourth five-fer in second innings, reinforcing his moniker.

Brief Scores: India 502/7 decl. (Mayank Agarwal 215, Rohit Sharma 176) and 323/4 decl (Rohit Sharma 127, Cheteshwar Pujara 81) beat South Africa 431 (Dean Elgar 160, Quinton de Kock 111, Faf du Plessis 55; R Ashwin 7-145) and 191 (Dane Piedt 56, Senuran Muthusamy 49*; Mohammed Shami 5-35, Ravindra Jadeja 4-87) by 203 runs