Dean Elgar was the unlikely bowling hero for South Africa as the tourists skittled India for 201 on the opening day of the first Test in Mohali on Thursday.
The part-time left-arm spinner, who had managed just six wickets in 17 previous Tests, grabbed four for 22 runs on the dry, dusty pitch which he later described as not being good for cricket.
South Africa were themselves reduced to 9-2 in reply before ending an eventful day’s play on 28 without further loss at the IS Bindra stadium.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed Stiaan van Zyl leg-before for five and left-arm slow bowler Ravindra Jadeja bowled Faf du Plessis for no score with his second delivery.
Elgar (13 not out) and skipper Hashim Amla (nine not out) warded off the immediate threat from the Indian spinners to ensure there were no further setbacks for the tourists.
Opener Murali Vijay was the lone top-order Indian batsman to offer resistance, making 75 before he was sixth out, leg-before while trying to sweep off-spinner Simon Harmer.
India were reduced to 154-7 before Jadeja (38) and Ashwin (20 not out) lifted the total with a 42-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Elgar slammed the wicket as one that teams would usually encounter on the fourth day of a Test despite recording his best-ever Test figures.
“It is not a good cricket pitch but it is wicket that will produce a result either way,” he said. “We sort of expected it to play like that but we didn’t expect it to crumble the way it already has.
“It was right up there with the hardest ever Test cricket I’ve played. Lets hope that it can backfire (on India) and turn out to be a great victory for us.”
Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar said his team’s total of 201 was not inadequate on what he said was a “challenging” pitch.
“I am not saying it is a good wicket or a bad wicket, but it is a challenging wicket where run-making is not so easy,” said Bangar.
“It may look that we have only 201 on the board but it is worth much more than that in these conditions.”
South Africa, the No 1 Test side, claimed three wickets in the morning session after India won the toss and gained the advantage of batting first on a pitch that is expected to deteriorate further.
The first wicket fell before a run had been scored when Shikhar Dhawan hung his bat out to a swinging ball from Vernon Philander and edged a catch to Amla at first slip.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Vijay retrieved the situation with a 63-run partnership for the second wicket when Elgar stepped up with the ball and, an over later, took a low catch to make it 65-3.
Elgar trapped Pujara leg-before for 31 with his fourth delivery when he was summoned by Amla to bowl the 22nd over.
Four balls later, Elgar dived in the covers to remove Indian captain Virat Kohli for one on his 27th birthday – also giving debutant fast bowler Kagiso Rabada his first Test wicket.
India, who went to lunch at 82-3, were set back once again by Elgar who took two wickets off successive deliveries spread over two overs to reduce the hosts to 102-5.
Both Ajinkya Rahane (15) and Wriddhiman Saha (0) were snapped up by Amla in the slips, but Ravindra Jadeja denied Elgar a hat-trick by defending the next ball.
Elgar claimed his fourth wicket when Amit Mishra holed out to Dale Steyn in the deep, soon after Vijay was dismissed.
Leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who was brought on as the sixth bowler, bowled Umesh Yadav and last man Varun Aaron in the space of four balls to terminate the innings.
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