Dale Steyn's 3 best spells vs India in Tests

Dale Steyn is celebrating his 40th birthday today. The former South African fast bowler was born on June 27, 1983. He is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time by many experts and fans alike.

During his prime years, Steyn instilled fear in the minds of the opposition batters with his pace, accuracy, and swing. It was quite difficult for the batters to score runs against him, especially in red-ball cricket.

Steyn had an excellent record while playing Test cricket against India. Shedding some light on his numbers against India in the longest format of the game, the right-arm pacer bagged 65 wickets in just 14 matches. He recorded five five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket match haul against the Indian team.

On Dale Steyn's 40th birthday today, in this listicle now, we will look back at his three best bowling performances against Team India in Test cricket.

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#1 The Dale Steyn show in Nagpur - 7/51 vs. India, 2010

The pitch at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur is known for helping the spinners. However, in 2010, Dale Steyn destroyed the Indian batting lineup with his pace at the VCA Stadium.

The Proteas batted first and posted a mammoth 558/6 on the board before declaring the innings. Hashim Amla stole the show with an unbeaten 253-run knock.

In reply, India were 192/3 at one stage, with Virender Sehwag batting on 109. Wayne Parnell dismissed Sehwag, and soon after, Steyn destroyed the Indian lineup with his pace.

Steyn dismissed Murali Vijay and Sachin Tendulkar in his first spell, and then, he picked up the wickets of Subramaniam Badrinath, Wriddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, and Amit Mishra in quick succession.

Courtesy of his spell, India collapsed from 192/3 to 233 all out. Steyn ended with figures of 7/51. He bagged three more wickets in the second innings as South Africa beat India by an innings and six runs.

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#2 Dale Steyn destroys India on Indian soil - 5/23, 2008

In 2008, South Africa visited Ahmedabad for the second Test of their series against India. The Proteas bowled India out for just 76 runs in the first innings, with Steyn bowling a dream spell of 5/23 in 8.2 overs.

Steyn rattled the stumps of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid before sending Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, and Sreesanth back to the dressing room. His five-wicket haul set up an innings win for South Africa in that match.

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#3 Steyn's best spell against India in South Africa - 6/50, 2010

It may surprise a few fans but Steyn's best figures against India on South African soil ended in a losing cause. In the Boxing Day Test match of 2010 at Kingsmead, Steyn bowled a spell of 6/50.

He accounted for the wickets of Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, and Harbhajan Singh to bowl India out for 205 runs. The Proteas batters failed to tackle the Indian bowlers in that match and India ended up recording an 87-run victory.