The requirement from the Mohali pitch was simple: get a result and get some spin going. The hope from the outcome was an India win. On Saturday evening, all three came true. The damage done by spinners in the three-day Test was 34 wickets with Indian spinners accumulating 19 (Varun Aaron took the one). Interestingly, South African spinners wreaked havoc more than their pacers do which isn't the usual turn of events. Tanuj lakhina looks at the Indian tweakers post India's 108 run win
Ashwin for the win
As CheteshwarPujara lunged forward to take an easy wicket of Imran Tahir on Friday to wrap up the South African inning at 184, RavichandranAshwin, the bowler, had added yet another fifer to the list of his rising accomplishments. In the process, he reached yet another milestone — of 150 wickets. It took him only 29 matches (53 innings) to reach this landmark - five less than the two previous Indiansto this feat — ErapalliPrasanna and Anil Kumble. To certify his prowess as India's leading wicket taker, he has been the quickest to 50 wickets and 100 wickets too.
To add to his first inning showing, he added three in the second essay.
He may not have picked up the man of the match award in the end, with fellow spinner RavindraJadeja taking it, but he would have surely been the second choice.
The Indian team management asked for a spin friendly track and that is granted. And then, Ashwin becomes a key component in making the most of that track. He was and has always has been. It can be argued that his absence from the ODI side,from the second match onwards, due to side strain,hurt the side more than any other aspect.
On Tuesday, Dean Elgar and HashimAmla were easily ticking the scoreboard along in the first hour of play. The left hand-right hand combination came out with a positive frame of mind, contrary to the final session on day 1. But in the 38th over, Ashwin's attacking bowlinggot rid of Elgar to instigate a domino effect of wickets to leave South Africa in tatters. With Elgar trying to sweep and giving away a top edge, Ashwin knew that was coming. He had done his homework on the batsman and it had paid dividends. "Elgar, I have seen him bat. Had a wonderful time in watching him on YouTube last night. He has done that a lot at Johannesburg. I made it a point to tell him it's not Johannesburg unfortunately. I thought it was coming, I knew he was going to play that shot," he said at the post match press conference.
The demons of the pitch played their role in India's win on Saturday. Although, these demons were mostly in the visiting side's head than on the surface underneath.Most of Ashwin's wickets were because of the CSK players' flight, ball positioning and vicious turn.
Sir Ravindra Jadeja
He last bowled in an international against Bangladesh and was dropped from all Indian sides then. His shoulder injury and drop in form didn't help his cause. Then he took to horse riding and meeting his friends and family to relax, unwind and get back to things with a fresh mind. And has it done wonders!
Eight wickets at the cost of 38 runs in Mohali earned him a deserved man of the match award. And with that he has taken 35 wickets in six home Tests at an average of 17.48.
Upon his sacking from the Indian side, he took a break for a few months and hit the ground running for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy with 37 wickets in three matches - a streak, which made Sunil Gavaskar question the preparation of wickets in India.
In Mohali, he continued where he left off. But he wasn't as excited about the return as he was worried. Worried that he had to match his Ranji stint or there would be questions. In the end, though, as Saturday evening strolled about and he entered the press conference area with captain Virat Kohli by his side, he had no reason to worry.
"I last played in the ODI series in Bangladesh," Jadeja said. "I was out of the team after that. There was a break of two-three months, so I thought let me enjoy my horse riding. It was a good time. Just rode my horses. When Ranji Trophy was about to begin, about one month before that I began practising and working out. The game plan was to make spinning wickets because other team's strength was pace bowling. That's why we thought we would play spinners and play on turning tracks."
"When the wickets came in the first two-three matches, confidence followed by itself. There was a different confidence in me now. Then I was selected for India after two matches. Then 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," he claimed.
When he wasn't getting wickets or beating the bat, he kept bowling in the right areas to ensure the runs dried down too. The idea, he stated, was to add pressure on the batsman and it did the trick.
Amit ‘AB slayer' Mishra
Where Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took the lion's share of the wickets in Mohali, leggie Amit Mishra tamed 'the lion' in both the innings.
It cannot be denied that AB de Villiers is the big fish in the South African batting lineup and Mishra got him bowled in both the innings.
In the first innings there was the faster delivery to outdo de Villiers and in the second innings it was the flight and having the batsman rooted to the crease. The third wicket came in the form of Simon Harmer in the first innings.
In his classical leg spinning nature, he relies on the flight of the ball and a good turning wicket to make batsmen defenseless. That wasn't entirely the case in Mohali, however much one may claim. The pitch was erratic, definitely helped the spinners, but it wasn't too easy to extract spin on it. What could help was variance, which Jadeja and Ashwin employed in the Indian camp and Imran Tahir and Harmer did in the Proteas camp.