South Africa vs India 2018, 3rd Test: Hits and misses

The Indian Team managed to save face and the embarrassment of a whitewash by winning the final Test against South Africa at Johannesburg by 63 runs. The hosts were given a target of 241 to chase and were cruising at 124/1.

However, some sensational bowling by Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah saw India through although South Africa ended up winning the series 2-1. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was adjudged the Man of the Match due to his performances with both bat and ball.

The match saw a number of brilliant performances from both sides as well as some sloppy performances.

Here are five hits and misses from the final Test between India and South Africa.

Hit: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvi was undoubtedly India’s hero of the match. He wasn’t the best performer in any particular innings but was pretty consistent in both innings. The 27-year old’s 49-ball 30 in the first innings helped India reach 187 as at one point, it seemed that they wouldn’t even reach 150.

With the ball, Bhuvi took three extremely important wickets. He dismissed openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram before sending AB de Villiers back to the pavilion. He ended with figures of 3/44. In the second innings, Bhuvi played another composed innings, scoring 33 from 76 deliveries. During the target defence, the Sunrisers Hyderabad man took the wicket of Kagiso Rabada. He ended with a spell of 1/39 from 18 overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s all-around performance throughout the match was one of the key reasons behind India’s win and his Man of the Match award was richly deserved.

Hit: Vernon Philander

South Africa’s star performer throughout the series put in a terrific performance in the match. During India’s first innings, the 32-year old took two wickets, those of KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami. He ended with 2/31 from 19 overs.

With the bat, Philander scored 35 from 55 deliveries which helped South Africa take the 7-run lead. Philander bowled a brilliant spell of 3/61 in the second innings. His scalps were Parthiv Patel, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah.

However, Philander couldn’t produce a good performance with the bat as he was bowled by Mohammed Shami for 10. Philander ended the series with 15 wickets and was adjudged Man of the Series.

Hit: Mohammed Shami

Shami was brilliant for India throughout the match. In India’s first innings, he scored 8 with the bat. He took the key wicket of Vernon Philander in South Africa’s first innings who was looking dangerous. That wicket helped India concede a lead of only 7 runs.

Shami scored a crucial 27 from 28 deliveries in India’s second innings which helped them set up a target of 241 for the hosts. However, Shami’s best came during the second innings. He decimated the South African batting with his third Test five-wicket haul. His career-best spell of 5/28 helped India script a memorable overseas win. Shami ended the series as the joint-top wicket-taker.

Miss: Aiden Markram

Opener Aiden Markram had a very disappointing match with the bat. In the first innings, he nicked a back of a length delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar to Parthiv Patel who took a routine catch. Markram scored only two runs.

In the second innings, Markram began the chase well with a boundary. However, he did a similar mistake and the wicket-keeper took another simple catch. This time, the bowler was Mohammed Shami. The opener’s innings ended on four runs. He did not take any catches either.

Markram ended the series as the 6th highest run-scorer among both sides.

Miss: Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya was a heavy disappointment for India throughout the match. In the first innings, Pandya was dismissed for a duck after top-edging an Andile Phehlukwayo delivery which was caught brilliantly by Quinton de Kock.

Pandya bowled only two overs with the ball during South Africa’s first innings, conceding three runs with no wickets. During the second innings, Pandya fell early with the bat once again, scoring just 4. With the ball, he went wicketless once again, conceding 15 runs from 6 overs.

Pandya’s performances throughout the series were decent but he was nothing but lacklustre in this Test.