A game that everything; skill, grit, drama, scandal and an Indian overseas win(India won by 63 runs)
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Coming into the 3rd Test, the Indians were pegged behind, their walls to the back, and that ‘self-doubt’ threatening to become larger in stature.
India had never lost at the Wanderers and that was the only positive that India were taking with themselves into the dead rubber at the Bull Ring.
The pitch was as green as it could be, and it had those cracks that threatened to open at will.
The recipe had been laid out for another India loss, but the players stepped up, in what was one of the most memorable overseas Test matches of the 21st century.
It was tough for the batsmen to survive on this pitch, let alone score freely, but the Indian batsmen fought it out in the middle, counter punching all the time and looking to be positive even when the ball was spitting venom.
With so much talk around the pitch last night, after the umpires asked the players to walk off the field, it looked as if the pitch and all the talk around it could be a distraction for India, going into the 4th day.
But the Indian bowlers held their own, even when Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar were going along so smoothly in the middle.
Amla flicked one straight to Pandya and ABD got one that just took off from a length, and that was that for South Africa, who succumbed to a catastrophic collapse, losing 8 wickets for 45 runs.
India will have to be credited for being persistent with their efforts all through the 4 days of the Test match.
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