South African seamer Vernon Philander ran through the Indian batting line-up by scalping 6 wickets in the second innings on day 4. He also broke the critical partnership between Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He later removed all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin who stitched a great partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a promising 49-run stand.

After the washout on day 3, Indian pacers rattled the South African batsmen to give the visitors an opportunity to win a Test in South Africa. India needed 208 runs to win the Test. The pitch was assisting the pacers and South Africans were 1 bowler short as Dale Steyn was out with a bruised ankle which he picked up while bowling in the first innings.

Vernon broke the stand between Ashwin and Kumar and credited his skipper for the vital wicket of the Indian off-spinner who was playing a gritty knock in the 2nd innings.

Talking about the dismissal, Philander said, “You have to be open to those suggestions, but I’ll have to give this one to ‘Faffie’ (Faf du Plessis). Ashwin, at the time, was batting quite far out of his crease, and the wicket was a touch on the slow side, and the ball was a bit older. I also felt that by pushing him back we could get all three dismissals into play.”