The fast bowler won his third Man-of-the-Match award on his home ground, while Wriddhiman Saha set a new catches record for Indian wicketkeepers
Bharath Seervi08-Jan-2018Philander rules NewlandsESPNcricinfo LtdVernon Philander has been very successful at his home ground in Cape Town compared to other venues. In fact, his strike rate at Newlands is the second-best among fast bowlers who have taken 40-plus wickets at a venue. He has taken 47 wickets in eight Tests at Newlands with four five-wicket hauls. His figures of 6 for 42 in the fourth innings of this Test are his career-best figures. He has taken three or more wickets in 11 of the 16 innings he has bowled in at this venue. He has won three Man-of-the-Match awards at Newlands whereas he has only won one at all other venues in South Africa.An avalanche of wicketsA total of 18 wickets fell on the fourth day of the Cape Town Test. The first session saw the hosts dismissed for 130 after beginning at 65 for 2 – eight wickets fell for 65 runs. After being set 208, India collapsed to 82 for 7 in the second session. The remaining three wickets fell in the final session and the day ended with 18 wickets for 200 runs. This is the third-most wickets to fall on a single day’s play at Newlands. The most were 23 wickets between the hosts and Australia on the second day of the 2011-12 Test.ESPNcricinfo LtdIndia fail to chase 208Only twice have India failed to chase a target smaller than the 208 set by South Africa in this Test. They were all out for 81 chasing 120 against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1997, while in 2015, in Galle, they lost by 63 runs after being set 176 by Sri Lanka. This is also the smallest target defended in South Africa since their readmission. The previous record was 249 by the hosts against New Zealand in Centurion in 2005-06.De Villiers remains the bestIn a Test that was dominated by the fast bowlers from both sides, AB de Villiers stood apart from every other batsman. He was the highest scorer for the hosts in both innings – 65 and 35. He was, in fact, the highest run-scorer from both sides with his 100 runs across the two innings. One major reason for his success was his attacking play. While the other batsmen, apart from Hardik Pandya in the first innings, played defensively and couldn’t score runs, de Villiers attacked in both innings. His strike rate in the match (74.60) was about 50% higher than the combined strike rate of all the other batsmen. Also, his control percentage was 78, which was also better than the average control percentage of the rest of the batsmen.ESPNcricinfo LtdSaha betters Dhoni, rare high for India pacersWriddhiman Saha caught 10 catches in the match – five each in both innings. In the process, he became the first India wicket-keeper to effect ten dismissals in a Test. The previous record was nine dismissals (eight catches and one stumping) by MS Dhoni against Australia at the MCG in 2014-15, his final Test match. This was also the first time Saha had effected more than seven dismissals in a Test.All four fast bowlers played by India – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya – picked wickets in both innings of this Test. This is the first instance of four India fast bowlers taking at least in a wicket each in both innings of a Test match. In the second innings, all four managed at least two wickets each, which provided only the second such instance for India. The first was against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2001 when Zaheer Khan, Harvinder Singh, Venkatesh Prasad and Sourav Ganguly achieved this.
