Five-star Shami shakes up SA

Mohammed Shamirsquos sheer artistry with new and old ball fetched him another fivewicket haul as India seized control of the first Test against South Africa on the third day by extending their overall lead to 146 runs that could prove to be decisiveShami 165445 and his pace bowling colleagues Jasprit Bumrah 722162 Mohammed Siraj 1531451 and Shardul Thakur 111512 further enhanced their reputation as world beaters by dismissing the Proteas for mere 197Ngidi sparks Indiarsquos collapseThe quartet neutralised Lungi Ngidirsquos lionhearted morning spell which saw him finish on 6 for 71 from 24 overs as India lost seven wickets from 55 runs to be allouton 327SArsquos Keegan Petersen is bowled by Mohd Shami on Day Three of the first Test yesterday PicAFPThe wily old Shami manfully shouldered the duties of a pace spearhead for the better part of the 623 overs because of Bumrahrsquos twisted ankle He also completed a satisfying personal milestone of 200 Test wickets With a first innings lead of 130 India at stumps reached 16 for 1 losing Mayank Agarwalrsquos wicketThe Supersport Park strip after all the rain on the second day was at its spiciest best with all the underlying moisture aiding seam and swing bowling as 18 wickets fell on the dayWhile Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada did well in the morning Shami did way better in the afternoon in company of Bumrah Siraj and ShardulIf the Proteas pacers relied on steep bounce off good length to trouble the Indian middle and lowerorder which caved in meekly Shami used the angles of the crease very effectively and the movement off the pitch did the restConditions matterThe example was how he got Keegan Petersen and Aiden Markram with deliveries which were slightly different in executionIn case of Petersen Shami went slightly wide off the crease and unleashed an incutter that pitched on length and shaped in to take inside edge off his bat into the stumpsIn case of Markram he came closer to the stumps and bowled one that looked shaping in but once it pitched it just shaped away to hit the top of off stump The difference was angles used and slight change in wrist positioning200No of Test wickets taken by Mohd Shami It took 9896 ballsmdashthe fewest by an Indian bowlermdashto reach the milestoneBrief scoresIndia 327 amp 161 KL Rahul 123 M Agarwal 60 A Rahane 48 L Ngidi 671 K Rabada 372 v South Africa 197 T Bavuma 52 de Kock 34 M Shami 544 J Bumrah 218 S Thakur 251This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever