Team India wraps up 1st test against South Africa in 3 days

• 1st test victory for Virat Kohli on home soil
• Ravindra Jadeja awarded man of the match in his comeback match
• First time since 1996 does India win the first test against South Africa

Mohali: Team India came out the victors in the first test of the Freedom series against the South Africans in a game where the ball dominated more than the bat. After winning the toss skipper Kohli’s side weren’t able to score big in the first innings and were bundled out for 201. The hosts too couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity and lost all their wickets for 184 runs. For India Ashwin, who had been sidelined in the ODI’s with an injury returned to action with yet another five-for.

In the process he became the quickest Indian to 150 wickets. Apart from AB DeVilliers who scored yet another half century in India none of the South African batsmen were able to apply themselves in the middle.

India’s second innings start mirrored its first innings with opener Shikhar Dhawan again going out on a duck. Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara then stiched together valuable runs for team India before Vijay was dismissed for 47. Skipper Kohli walked out to support Pujara and the duo ensured India ended day two with an upper hand.

Day 3 saw both Kohli and Pujara take a cautious approach and negotiated the South African bowlers for the first hour.

Kohli’s wicket opened the flood gates

With not much happening from the pacers Hashim Amla brought on his part time spinner Van Zyl from one end who eventually got Kohli. This seemed to have a domino effect as India lost the last 7 wickets for just 40 runs to set a target of 218 runs for the visitors.

The Proteas looked clueless against the Indian spinners with perhaps Hashim Amla’s dismissal being the highlight. Amit Mishra accounted for AB DeVilliers for the second time in the match with his leg break. His dismissal was the final nail in the coffin for the visitors who were bundled out for 109 runs in their second innings.

Bad decisions cost us: Amla

It was not the surface or the spin but errors in decision-making and incorrect execution which, Hashim Amla explained, caused his first defeat as Test captain. South Africa were bowled out for under 200 on a slow surface twice; Amla believes they could have scored more runs had they shown better skills.

“We could have applied ourselves better,” Amla said. “There were decisions we made while we were batting that were not the right decisions.”

Jadeja re announces his arrival in the international arena

Ravindra Jadeja made a good comeback to the Indian Test team as he scalped five wickets in South Africa’s second innings today and bagged the Man-of-the-Match award.

The left-hander was drafted into the Indian team after taking 38 wickets for Saurashtra with his spin bowling in four Ranji Trophy matches this season.

“I thought I have to do well for India too. I can’t relax, otherwise you get an image that you do well only in domestic cricket. That you don’t do well in international cricket. Personally I was worried about that more than anything, that you don’t want that label that you do well only in Ranji Trophy or domestic cricket. I wanted to do well in international cricket too,” Jadeja told reporters.