Team India is seemingly on a roll. On Wednesday, it gained the upper hand on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test for the Freedom Trophy 2021-22 against South Africa at Centurion Park. India secured its lead in the second innings, thanks to a five-wicket haul from seamer Mohammed Shami, who also hit a milestone.
In the process of the fifer, Shami claimed the 200th wicket of his Test career. As a result, he became the 11th Indian to enter the 200 Test wickets club, besides being the fifth seamer to do so. Notably, he also became the fastest to do the same in 9,896 deliveries, bettering Ravichandran Ashwin (10,248 balls).
In terms of the number of Tests played to reach the landmark, Shami is the third-fastest, having done so in his 55th Test. The ones ahead of him are Javagal Srinath (54) and Kapil Dev (50). In terms of his five-for, it was the sixth such instance in his Test career, besides being only the second occasion in the first innings, with the previous being against Australia at Sydney in 2015 (5/112).
Match summary
Winning the toss, India managed 327, with opener KL Rahul scoring a century, while fellow opener Mayank Agarwal scored 60. After a joyous Day 1 and Day 2 being washed out due to rain, the Protea pacers struck back, with Lungi Ngidi claiming a six-for. Thanks to Mohammed Shami's fifer, the host struggled and was bundled out for 197, handing India a second innings lead of 130.
Brief scores: IND 327 & 10/0 (Rahul- 5*; Ngidi- 0/4) leads SA 197 (Bavuma- 52; Shami- 5/44) by 140 runs.