Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Scorecard

- Dhiman Sarkar dhiman@htlive.com

RANCHI: The last rites were completed two overs into the first hour. With MS Dhoni visiting the ground—his ground—india beat South Africa by an innings and 202 runs here on Tuesday. Those two wickets were taken by the other l ocal hero, Shahbaz Nadeem, who will now go into his second Test on a hattrick.

That hattrick may come soon enough because India captain Virat Kohli said he feels the leftarm spinner fitted in well with a team high on quality slow bowlers. “See how things turn in life; two days ago he was in Kolkata,” said Kohli about the Jharkhand player with whom he played as a teenager.

Nadeem ended the third Test with four wickets, a superb runout and was not out when India declared on 497/9; which also meant South Africa ended the Freedom Series without once bowling their opponents out in an innings. “The biggest satisfacti­on for us is that we are playing ‘kamaal ki’ (superb) cricket as a team. It’s all about what the team wants and that’s why we have won 31 Tests (in 51 under Kohli) and we don’t want to stop,” said Kohli after winning the threeTest series 3-0, the third clean sweep under him. “The top order is scoring runs; the lower order is contributi­ng; we are taking catches; spinners and fast bowlers have been brilliant; (Wriddhiman) Saha is keeping the way he did, you can’t ask for anything more. We have become a multi-dimensiona­l team now.”

Kohli added: “(All) we need to make sure is workload (management) and maintain good bench strength.”

The pace at which Rohit Sharma scored as the opener here helped India in a Test where nearly two sessions were lost to bad light and rain, said Kohli. “He has been the best opener in the world in one-dayers for a while. Credit to the player (Sharma) for the way he has overcome anxiety and hesitation and performed in such a manner that he was adjudged Man of the Series in the first series as an opener.”

After ending the third Test with almost two days to spare, India’s tally of 240 points in the World Test Championsh­ip is now more than what the remaining eight teams put together have accrued. Asked if this was the perfect performanc­e, Kohli said: “I think so.”

If these numbers have gained such heft it is because of the work put in over the past four years, said Kohli. A crucial element has been creating a culture that stresses on the collective. “You play under pressure and get desperate if you think of your own (follow-on — overnight 132-8) Q de Kock b Yadav

D Elgar retd hurt

Z Hamza b Shami

F du Plessis lbw b Shami T Bavuma c Saha b Shami H Klaasen lbw b Yadav

G Linde run out 5 16 0 4 0 5 27

performanc­e,” he said. So, if Nadeem started his first over in Test cricket without trying to impress anyone, it was because he “bought into what the team wants immediatel­y.”

Another major element to India’s successful streak is, of course, fitness. “Your brain is supporting what you do because of your body. If you bowl three overs with full energy and you are tired for the next two, you will lose the opportunit­y to take a wicket after creating pressure. Look at Umesh (Yadav) field after a spell, you can’t tell that he is a fast bowler,” he said, speaking about the contributi­on of the fast bowlers, Yadav and Mohammed Shami, who shared 10 wickets between them in a Test match in

D Piedt b Jadeja 23 *T de Bruyn c Saha b Nadeem 30 K Rabada c Jadeja b Ashwin 12 A Nortje not out 5 L Ngidi c and b Nadeem 0 Extras (b-5, lb-1) 6 Total (all out, 48 overs) 133 FOW: 1-5, 2-10, 3-18, 4-22, 4-26*, 5-36, 6-67, 7-98, 8-121, 9-133.

Bowling: M Shami 10-6-10-3, U Yadav 9-1-35-2, R Jadeja 13-5-36-1, S Nadeem 6-1-18-2, R Ashwin 10-3-28-1.

which India fielded three spinners.

“Their strike rate is probably the best in Indian conditions in history. Which tells you that these guys hit the stumps and the pads more than anyone else,” said Kohli. Half of Yadav and Shami’s wickets here were bowled or leg-before.

“They want challenges and want to come out on top. Even if the ball is doing a little bit after the spinners have bowled, they immediatel­y want the ball back.”

Unlike Shami, Yadav hasn’t been a regular in the team so Kohli said that “constant communicat­ion with guys who don’t play is very important.”

“At the end of your career, you can say these are my numbers.

But if you are part of the champion team, you will have those memories forever. Having made impactful performanc­es in a team which wins a lot leaves you with relationsh­ips that will last for a lifetime. The guys aren’t desperate; they understand that all we are trying to do is to win Test matches for India. Staying out of game time for so long and bowling like this shows he has been wanting to keep up with the standards the team has set,” said Kohli. Early in the interactio­n, Kohli spoke about things having gone in the right direction over the past two-three months, a period in which India have won all five Tests they played. Yet he knows a defeat may be around the corner because, “at the end of the day, we are 11 guys who can be vulnerable.”

“We will definitely have bad sessions, bad situations. But we will always be keen to learn and improve; we don’t let anyone slide things under the carpet. If in an hour we’ve given too many runs, the message is straight at drinks that it’s not good enough. We don’t wait for the session to get over and then speak because if another hour goes bad, you are letting the match go. Credit has to go to players because they are open to listening to things that need to be improved. And the execution has been outstandin­g,” he said.

 ??  ?? India captain Virat Kohli spoke highly about Umesh Yadav’s (in pic) fitness. “Look at Umesh field after a (bowling) spell, you can’t tell that he is a fast bowler.”
AP
India captain Virat Kohli spoke highly about Umesh Yadav’s (in pic) fitness. “Look at Umesh field after a (bowling) spell, you can’t tell that he is a fast bowler.” AP

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