IND vs SA | South Africa end Day 4 eight wickets away from securing historic clean sweep in Guwahati

‌Brief score: IND 27/2 [Jaiswal 13, Rahul 6; Harmer 1/1] & 201 need 522 runs to win vs SA 489 & 260/5d [Stubbs 94, de Zorzi 49; Jadeja 4/62]

Resuming from an overnight score of 26/0, South Africa openers Ryan Rickelton and Aiden Markram extended their lead without much ado with another half-century stand up-top. Rishabh Pant responded by bringing Ravindra Jadeja into the attack in the 17th over and the veteran immediately proved a handful, taking just nine deliveries to tempt Rickelton into a big shot and have him holed out for 35. Along with Washington Sundar, Jadeja tightened the screws on the Proteas as the twobowled marathon spells in tandem, the latter eventually producing a classic left-arm spinner's ripper to peg back Markram's off-stump and send him packing for 29. Sundar opened his account a couple of overs later by having Temba Bavuma caught at leg slip, just a ball after he had been dropped by short leg, to further reduce the tourists to 77/3. However, just as the Men in Blue were gaining ascendancy, Tristan Stubbs put on a blockathon while Tony de Zorzi upped the tempo at the other end to quickly rattle together 30 runs and head into Tea at 107/3.

De Zorzi's tempo died a sudden death post the break as Kuldeep Yadav added a few more strands to India's spin-web with some prodigous turn. Nevertheless, the Proteas duo were prolific with their sweeps and reverse sweeps to keep the hosts at bay, as the stand crawled past the century mark and the lead surpassed 450. However, a declaration still was not forthcoming, even after Jadeja pinned de Zorzi LBW one run short of a half-century. Stubbs crossed the hurdle a couple of overs later and alongwith Wiaan Mulder saw his team through to Lunch at 220/4, the lead a mammoth 508.

Stubbs finally put the burners on in the final session with the introduction of Nitish Kumar Reddy as four boundaries in as many overs took him to 88. Meanwhile, Bavuma appeared on the dressing room balcony indicating a declaration was on the way, and Stubbs confirmed the suspicion by slogging Jadeja for a massive six to get within a big shot of a ton. However, the veteran dropped his length short to induce a play and miss, before another attempted sweep resulted in the top of off-stump being smashed and signalled the end of the Proteas' batting effort. India were set 549 to win, the highest target ever for India on home soil.

The chase began ominously as Marco Jansen struck Yashasvi Jaiswal on the glove with a fierce bumper first up but the opener fired back with venom, slamming the quick for a four and a maximum shortly after. Even so, it was Jansen who had the final laugh as he cramped Jaiswal for room and found the top-edge from an attempted cut that was pouched safely by Kyle Verreyne to hand India the first blow. Simon Harmer doubled the trouble with his second ball a looped-up off-spinner that drew KL Rahul onto the front foot before turning a mile to breach bat and pad and sound the veteran the death rattle. India opted to send in nightwatchman Kuldeep Yadav with just half an hour to go and after a gargantuan struggle, both him and Sai Sudharsan managed to emerge unscathed with the score at Stumps 27/2.

Well played!

Yeah!

Pitch Flip

Come on!

😪

Strange Behaviour

Umpires call!

Well played!

Match saving knock!