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South Africa need 409 runs to win after India declare, Rahane hits ton
Ajinkya Rahane achieved the rare distinction of scoring a century in each innings as India needed another eight wickets on the last day of the fourth and final cricket Test against a fighting South Africa to record a historic 3-0 series win, in Delhi, on Sunday.
After being set a daunting target of 481 for a win, South Africa batted with extreme caution to crawl to a painstaking 72 for 2 in 72 overs at close of an eventful day at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
In their bid to bat out for a draw, South African skipper Hashim Amla (23 batting, 207 balls) decided to defend anything and everything that came his way with his ultra-defensive approach.
India is the only team that can win this Test match but with the pitch getting slower and the turn on offer not being vicious, it will be some sort of challenge for Ravindra Jadeja (0-10 in 23 overs) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2-29 from 23 overs) to get the remaining eight wickets on Monday.
The normally prolific AB de Villiers (11 batting) also put his head down producing a dead bat to the spin twins as they found it difficult to breach the defences of visiting team's two most seasoned campaigners.
Such was the frustration for skipper Kohli that he introduced his opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay into the attack trying to do something 'Out of the Box'.
De Villiers scored 11 off 91 balls and the first runs of the Amla-AB partnership came off 63 balls. At stumps, they had added 23 runs in 29.2 overs. The final session yielded 32 runs in 33 overs as the Proteas batsmen defended dourly.
Amla took 46 balls to open and scored only six runs in his first 100 balls. If Amla and Co. manage to save the Test, it will certainly be regarded as one of the great match-saving knocks in the history of the game.
Amla's 46 balls to get off the mark is the fourth highest deliveries consumed after John Murray of England (80 balls vs Australia, 1962) Stuart Broad (62 balls vs NZ in 2013) and Grant Flower (51 balls vs NZ in 2000).
IMAGE: South Africa's Dean Elgar departs. Photograph: BCCI
Opener Temba Bavuma (34, 117 balls) also showed resilience facing 104 balls which included three streaky boundaries and a six off Ravichandran Ashwin.
This is the first time that two South African batsmen in this series have played 100 balls each in a single innings.
It was after opener Dean Elgar (4) was removed by Ashwin, who was introduced in the fourth over. The Proteas still need 409 runs for an improbable win.
Earlier, middle order bat Ajinkya Rahane stroked his second century of the match to help India set South Africa a 481-run victory target at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium.
Rahane fifth Indian to score a century in each innings of a Test
Rahane became the fifth Indian to score centuries in each innings of a Test match and was unbeaten on 100 when India declared their second innings on 267-5 half an hour before the lunch break on the penultimate day.
South Africa stuttered early in their chase, losing Dean Elgar (four) to Ravichandran Ashwin to be 5-1 at lunch.
Temba Bavuma was on one while skipper Hashim Amla, who has endured a difficult series with the bat, was yet to face a ball.
In a low-scoring series in which no other batsman from either side managed a single hundred, Rahane took 206 balls to bring up his sixth century with the help of eight boundaries and three sixes.
India resumed on 190-4 with Rahane deciding to go for his shots even if it meant courting risks.
He played a couple of uppish drives past the point fielder before bending his knees for an upper-cut, chipping a Morne Morkel delivery over third man in an uncharacteristic show of aggression.
At the other end, captain Virat Kohli (88) added five runs to his overnight score before a low Kyle Abbott delivery trapped him leg before to end the series-high 154-run fifth wicket partnership.
Rahane could not be denied his hundred, though.
The 27-year-old slog-swept Imran Tahir over midwicket for his second six of the innings and stepped out against Dean Elgar for his third to storm into the 90s.
Rahane then took a quick single off leg-spinner Tahir to join an elite league of Indians that also included Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (thrice), Rahul Dravid (twice) and Kohli.
India immediately declared their innings, setting a stiff target to a South African team who were shot out for 121 in the first innings and have not gone beyond 185 in the series so far.