Ranchi: India’s pace prowess came to the fore yet again as Mohammad Shami (2/22, 3/10) and Umesh Yadav (3/40, 2/35) bossed over a fragile South African batting line-up to put the hosts on the cusp of a 3-0 whitewash here Monday.
As many as 16 South African wickets fell on day three of the third and final Test with Shami and Umesh doing the bulk of the damage.
The duo bowled with fiery pace and was also rewarded for consistently attacking the stumps. At the end of day’s play, the visitors were staring at 132/8 in their second innings with another massive defeat knocking.
It has proved to be another dismal tour of India for the South African batsmen and notwithstanding the high quality of fast bowling, they looked like sitting ducks Monday. Resuming the day at 9/2 in their first innings, South Africa were bowled out for 162 before India enforced the follow-on.
Umesh set the tone of the day by making inroads through South African skipper Faf du Plessis’ (one) bat and pad with an unplayable late outswinger. If Umesh was lethal in the first innings, Shami upped his game in the second.
The left-arm spinners, debutant Shahbaz Nadeem (2/22) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/19), too did their bit as India steamrolled the opposition. Nadeem had his ‘big moment’ when he dismissed Temba Bavuma (32) for his first international wicket. He foxed Bavuma with his flight as the batsman stepped out of the crease, leaving Wriddhiman Saha to do the rest.
Like he had done in the first innings, Umesh gave the first breakthrough in South Africa’s second essay when he cleaned up Quinton de Kock (five) with a perfect length delivery that angled across the left-hander.
Then Shami ripped through the middle-order, first castling Zubayr Hamza for a duck with a full length delivery before getting rid of Du Plessis (four) and Bavuma (duck) in successive overs to leave them gasping at 22/4.
An early tea was taken as both the teams were left shaken after opener Dean Elgar (16 retd hurt) was hit on the helmet by a 145kmph bouncer from Yadav. The batsman took a pause, sat on the ground before going off the field.
The only high point of the South African batting in the first innings was Zubayr Hamza as the 24-year-old, who replaced an injured Aiden Markram, showed fine application in his 62 off 79 balls.