Player of the Match
Player of the Match

5.15pm Despite the entire third day getting washed out, South Africa go 1-0 up with more than a day to spare. What a cracking day of Test cricket - 18 wickets tumbled in 64 overs. Hope you enjoyed our coverage as much as we did bringing it to you. Thanks for tuning in. I will leave you with Al Muthu's report. Goodbye and good night for now.

If you had missed the action from day four, you can watch the highlights here (India subcontinent only)

WATCH (Ind subcontinent only) - Philander wraps up SA's win with Bumrah wicket

WATCH (Ind subcontinent only) - Philander gets Shami

Whizzbang: ""They were a bowler short but they pitched the balls in the right areas and bowled their hearts out" That says it all. Protea Fire. You can't extinguish it!"

Kung Fu Pandya: "India in the next Test should go in with Rahane and KL Rahul. KL and Vijay are more solid and Rahane has shown he can make runs in overseas conditions. Kohli I think is fine despite making low scores overseas. He was looking fluent for his 28 and is not far from making a significant score."

VISWAGOPAL: "First innings AB's knock makes the difference to this game. Both the side's second innings pretty much same score. Well played by both the teams"

Vedhas: "Hoping for a better selection from Team India for starters. Fielding the best team is a good way to start winning matches. KL Rahul and Jinks are definitely better than the guys occupying their posts. "

Adarsh: "There would be a lot of talk on Indian batting deficiencies, but I feel that the biggest difference has been the quality of slip catching. The drop of Maharaj cost India 35 runs directly. And I see no way in which any other team could catch the blinders SA slips pulled off diving forward in the second innings."

Presentation

Virat Kohli: Well in hindsight, we lost by 70-odd, if we had taken chances in the first innings, they would have been 220. Losing wickets in bunches we have to plug in. We were in the game for the three days and it was a wonderful match to be part of. We would have taken that if someone told 208 would be the target. It was a great effort but we needed someone to get a 75 or 80. 20 or 30 is not enough. They were a bowler short but they pitched the balls in the right areas and bowled their hearts out. We need to rectify our mistakes also. Batting, as I said, we need to think about stringing partnerships. This game is all about partnerships, and crucial runs, and they did better. The bowlers learnt pretty quickly and did well in the second innings. We are still feeling good about how we went about this Test match. The mindset really matters when you travel away from home. You need to positive in defence and leaving, and cash in on scoring. We believe in Pandya, he always wants to do well, even away from home. He showed a lot of character and the knock was brilliant

Faf du Plessis: Every single time in this Test, we had to stand up in tough periods. The way we responded was brilliant. Even with them getting to a decent start, we stuck to our guns. The first morning we expected it to move around, but quite a bit of damage was done in the first hour. I thought 270 was par, Pandya then took risks and it came off. Once again, the bowlers stepped up. The plan was to try and get 200 runs and have a lead of 350 and have a crack at them. We were surprised how much the ball was doing. It was like a day one pitch. Green, again. It was a good pitch, though, and there was a good challenge between the bat and ball. It is really important to put the opposition under pressure in a three-match series. Dale would have been a real handful. We feel sorry for him and wish him a speedy recovery. And thanks to the great crowd over the three days.

Vernon Philander, Man of the Match: Coming to Newlands, it is generally slow, but they caught us off guard in the first morning. It was a wonderful effort with the bat from us in the first innings. What better crowd, what better conditions you can ask for! I think the ways the boys went about is was special. We were one seamer down but KG and Morne also bowled pretty well. I have been coming back after the break, so I felt a little stiff. Look, Dale has been one hell of a champion, one hell of a leader. Hopefully, he is back as soon as possible.

4.51pm How good is Philander? Send in your #PoliteEnquiries for @FirdoseM and @RaunakRK . Don't forget the hashtag.

South Africa did not have Steyn - down with a heel injury in the fourth innings - but Philander stepped up with career-best figures to lead the hosts to 1-0. He waves to the crowd and soaks in the applause. He kept nagging away outside off and found sharp movement from a Newlands pitch, which threw up several unplayable deliveries. He first had Vijay nicking off and then worked his way through the middle and lower order. Morne Morkel wasn't as threatening with the new ball but soon hit rhythm and bounced out Dhawan and Pujara.

India seemed to have a good chance in the 208 chase when Kohli was batting fluently but then Philander returned to pin the India captain with an inswinger. He was so confident that he did not spin around to appeal and kept running away in celebration. There was no stopping him today.

Robin Sharma : "When your number 8 and 9 batsmen face more deliveries (94) and score 50 runs as compared 65 balls faced by Top 3 batsmen for just 33 runs, how can any team win a match like this. Poor batting "

Lakshman Kumar: "This is the second time that SA lost Steyn in the middle of a Test match due to an injury and the remaining bowlers stood up and won them the match..! They did it against the Aussies and now with India..! Great crop of fast bowlers..!"

WATCH - R Ashwin caught behind by de Kock (Ind subcontinent only)

In other news, Barcelona spent roughly 1200 crores for Philippe Coutinho. ESPN looks at ten better ways of spending that money.

42.4
W
Philander to Bumrah, OUT, That is that. Philander, fittingly, wraps up the game for SA with career-best returns of 6 for 42! Bumrah bags a duck on Test debut. Full, pitches on off, and bends away just outside off, Bumrah is opened up as he sends an outside edge behind. Faf dives forward from second slip and pouches it

JJ Bumrah c du Plessis b Philander 0 (1m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

42.3
W
Philander to Mohammed Shami, OUT, That's a five-wicket haul for Philander. Full and swings away outside off, Shami has a naughty flirt at it wide outside off. Philander finds the outside edge, Faf dives to his left from second slip and snaffles it. SA just one away from 1-0

Mohammed Shami c du Plessis b Philander 4 (3m 2b 1x4 0x6) SR: 200.00

42.2
4
Philander to Mohammed Shami, FOUR, full and swings in on off, Shami dances out and lofts it straight of mid-on with a high elbow. Shot

Shami. The keeper moves back

42.1
W
Philander to Ashwin, OUT, First ball de Kock is upto the stumps, he pulls off a terrific catch. Is it the catch that seals the game? The eighth-wicket stand ends on 49. Good length and wobbles away outside off - not all that short - Ashwin slashes a cut and edges it behind. De Kock swiftly closes his gloves around the ball

R Ashwin c †de Kock b Philander 37 (81m 53b 5x4 0x6) SR: 69.81

END OF OVER:
42 | 6 Runs | IND: 131/7

  • Ravichandran Ashwin37 (52b)
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar13 (41b)
  • Keshav Maharaj4-1-12-0
  • Vernon Philander15-4-38-3
41.6
1
Maharaj to Ashwin, 1 run, this one slides in with the arm, Ashwin searches for turn, and inside-edges it square on the leg side
41.5
2
Maharaj to Ashwin, 2 runs, drifts in on off and spins away further, Ashwin squirts another outside edge to third man

IND in SA 2017-18 News

Philander's best

6/44

Vernon Philander's figures in the second innings - his career-best in Tests. He ended the Test with three wickets in four balls.

Another bowlers' session

7/82

Score in the second session of day 4. In the first session, 8 wickets fell for 65 runs. 15 wickets have fallen in first two session so far.

India's session

8/65

South Africa's score in the first session on Day 4. They began the day at 65 for 2 but were all out for 130, adding just 65 more runs.

Rare high for pacers

1

This is the first time 4 India fast bowlers have taken at least a wicket in both innings of a Test - Bhuvneshwar, Shami, Bumrah and Pandya.

Amla fails again

23.10

Hashim Amla's average in first or only Tests of a series since 2015, in 19 inns. He has just 2 50+ scores in this period. Before 2015, he averaged 70.42 in first Tests with 23 50+ scores in 52 inns.

Solid recovery

92

Runs added by India's first 7 wickets. Pandya and Bhuvneshwar have added more than that so far.

Philander's hundredth

100+

Wkts for Philander in Tests at home in 23 Tests. Pujara was his 100th wicket.

Top-order busted

39

Runs aggregated by top-3 wickets for both teams in their first inns of this Test - 12 for SA and 27 for Ind - is the lowest in a Test in SA since their readmission and second-lowest in any Test in last 15 years.

Pacers' day

2

No. of instances in last 10 years when four India fast bowlers picked at least a wicket in a Test innings, including this game. The only other occasion was against Australia at WACA in 2011-12.

Standing strong

2013

Last time AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis shared a partnership of 50+ runs in Tests, before doing it today. Their last such stand was also against India, 205 runs while chasing in J'Burg in Dec 2013.

Three-down quickly

1

No. of times India have got three wickets conceding fewer runs in their first inns of a tour outside Asia, than this match's 12 for 3. They had begun the 2006-07 tour of SA with 5 for 3 in Johannesburg.

Striking start

1992

Last time India got their first wicket of the tour earlier than this tour as Bhuvneshwar dismissed Elgar off the third ball. Kapil Dev had dismissed Jimmy Cook first ball of the 1992-93 tour.

Toss matters?

7-1

South Africa's win-loss record in 11 Tests at Newlands in Cape Town, in last 10 years. However, they have won the toss only twice in those 11 matches.