The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

Not quite a walk at Chepauk but India get the job done

SOUTH AFRICA’S remarkable fightback continued well into the last session of the final day before India won the one-off Test by a 10wicket margin on Monday. Like Day 3, where the visitors' dodged effort tested India’s patience, it was yet another hard-fought day. Harmanpree­t Kaur & Co had to send down 154.4 overs in the second innings to dismiss South Africa for 373. Chasing 37 for their win, India made it in 9.4 overs.

After Sune Luus, South Africa’s captain Laura Wolvaardt reached her century early in the first session and looked strong to carry on. When Day 4 began in gloomy conditions, South Africa were in with a chance of at least drawingthe­gamewhichl­ookedimpro­bableat theendofth­efirstdayw­henindiasc­oredmore than 500 runs. Even when South Africa were bowled out for 266, it only looked a matter of time. But they showed they had the fight in him as they battled it out for four full sessions and stretched India to the limits. Of course, India had another commanding win to show in Tests, but that they were made to work hard foritincon­ditionstha­twerenotea­syonthem.

It was a day where India needed to be patient and keep showing the discipline to earn each wicket as this wasn’t a pitch where one wicketledt­oanother.“see,obviously,thepitch was favouring the batters more than the bowlers.yes,itwasadiff­icultcondi­tion,"player of the match Sneh Rana said. But nowadays, wearegetti­ngpitchesl­ikethiseve­rywhere.so it's all about what consistenc­y you have to work on. When you have to use variation on yourball.andatwhatt­imeyouhave­tousethe stock ball more. I think these are all the learning from this game,” the off-spinner, who had a match haul 10 wickets, added.

The sheer determinat­ion to make a match out of it, though, wasn't lost on Wolvaardt.

“I think firstly to lose is a bit disappoint­ing. Butithinkj­ustthechar­acterthatt­hegrouphas shown over the last two days was absolutely amazing to see. I think to concede 500-andsomethi­ngrunsonda­yone,idon'tthinkmany people thought it would get all the way to the lastsessio­nondayfour. Ithinkjust­theabsolut­e grit and determinat­ion that every single batter had going out there to see it through until the end was amazing, and I think it'll do a lot of good things for this group,” Wolvaardt said.

Withthepit­chnotbreak­ingupasexp­ected, Wolvaardt who got used to the bounce, was happy playing the spinners off the backfoot. When Marizanne Kapp and Delmi Tucker fell in the space of an over to Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana, all things pointed out to another collapse. And when Wolvaardt too departed for 122 (314b, 393m) before lunch, India were smelling victory and came with the intent to close out the game in the afternoon session.

But Nadine de Klerk had other ideas. Right throughthe­secondsess­ion,shewouldus­eher loose hand grip to defend the Indian spinners, whotoiledh­ard.insteadofl­ookingforr­uns,sa borrowed a lesson or two from what Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers did in Delhi during their tour here in 2015. De Klerk cut out the run-scoring shots and defended with aplomb. Though India managed to take three wickets in that session, South Africa scored 34 runs in 29 overs.

Though wickets fell around her, De Klerk was immovable during her stay where she scored 61 runs off 185 deliveries. Every now and then, whenever India’s attack was beginningt­oseizecont­rolshewoul­dgoforabig­shot to release the pressure and force the hosts attack to do it all over again.

Itmeant,attimes,indiadidlo­okfrustrat­ed, withtheene­rgylevelsd­ipping.especially­during the second session, one could hear wicketkeep­errichagho­shaskinghe­rteammates­to “keep talking, keep talking.”

“Itiswhatte­stmatchesa­reallabout.there will be such phases when there will be other partnershi­ps. But you have to keep your mind active and body active. These chirpings inside helpssomet­imesjustto­wakeyouup.because on the third day of fielding... 200-plus overs is notaneasyj­ob.soyouneedw­aystostayf­resh. And we tried to be positive at all times and hanginther­eandgetthe­wickets.wekeptsayi­ng we would eventually win this and not to give up. Having that sort of belief was absolutely necessary,” Rana added.

And shortly after the final session, India picked up the remaining two wickets with De Klerk,fittingly,beingthefi­nalonetofa­lltomark theendofth­eproteasre­sistance.thejobwoul­d be eventually completed by Shubha Satheesh and Shafali Verma as India notched up their straight home Test win.

beat South Africa 266 and 373 (Laura Wolvaardt1­22,suneluus10­9,nadinedekl­erk 61) by 10 wickets