Mohammed Shami took 5 wickets for 35 runs as India beat South Africa by 203 runs in the first test at Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Chasing 395, South Africa were bowled out for 191 (63.5 overs) as Shami and Ravindra Jadeja (4-87) took nine wickets between them.
The duo had put on a six-wicket burst before lunch, which saw the Proteas collapse to 70-8. A record 90-run ninth-wicket partnership between Dane Piedt (56) and Senuran Muthusamy (49 not out) saved the touring side's blushes.
Post lunch, Piedt reached his half-century off 86 balls. India made some odd bowling but to no avail. Shami finally provided the breakthrough. He ended Piedt's resistance in the 60th over and then four overs later wrapped up the Proteas' innings. India have now won their last three tests, dating back to the tour of West Indies, and have accrued the maximum possible 160 points in the world test championship.
Ravichandran Ashwin finished with 1-44, taking his 350th wicket in 66 tests and equalling Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan as the joint-quickest to reach this mark. He took 7-145 in the first innings. His dismissal of Theunis de Bruyn (10) in the second over of the day started the South African slide in the morning. Shami then got into the act and bowled Temba Bavuma for a two-ball duck.
Aiden Markram (39) and Faf du Plessis (13) provided some resistance and pushed the score past 50, after which the Proteas completely lost their way. First, du Plessis was bowled off Shami in the 22nd over and two overs later, Shami cleaned up the first inning's centurion Quinton de Kock for a two-ball duck.
Jadeja then broke the back of South Africa's batting with three wickets in the 27th over. He sent back Markram with an excellent one-handed return catch and then trapped Vernon Philander (0) lbw for a three-ball duck. Two balls later, Keshav Maharaj (0) met the same fate.
South Africa lost five wickets in the space of 30 deliveries. In all, they lost seven wickets for 51 runs in the morning session. Over the five days, 36 sixes were hit in four innings, the most for any test ever. The previous best was 35 in New Zealand versus Pakistan at Sharjah in 2014.
India had set an improbable target after declaring their second innings at 323-4 with Rohit Sharma scoring 127. He had earlier scored 176 runs in the first innings, becoming the only Indian test to score twin hundreds in his maiden test as opener.
The hosts had scored 502-7 in the first innings with Sharma putting on a record 317 runs for the first wicket with Mayank Agarwal (215).
Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock had scored counter-attacking centuries to propel South Africa's first innings' reply to 431.
