Indian team dedicate Test series win to Chennai flood victims

New Delhi: India captain Virat Kohli on Monday dedicated the Test series win over South Africa to the victims of the devastating floods in Chennai.

India bundled out South Africa for 143 runs in the second innings to win the fourth and final Test by 337 runs and clinch the series 3-0.

They had won the first Test in Mohali by 108 runs and the third in Nagpur by 124 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the series going into the clash at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

The second Test in Bengaluru was washed out due to heavy rain after the opening day.

“I dedicate our series win to the victims of the Chennai floods. It has been a very unfortunate few weeks. The kind of situation that has arisen in the city is really bad. My thoughts are with all the people who have lost their family members,” Kohli told the media after the end of the fifth day’s play.

The floods affected the morale of a few players in the Indian squad as well. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who belongs to Tamil Nadu had publicly expressed his concern at the situation earlier during the series.

“A few of our players also had their family members stuck in the floods in one place for a very long time. So to come out and play with character in that situation is commendable. So we would like to dedicate the series to them and hope that this brings some joy to their homes,” Kohli added.

Rahane, centurion in both India’s innings, dedicated his man of the match award to the flood victims and the Indian Army, for its relentless work in providing aid for the people in distress.

“I would like to dedicate this to the people in Chennai who are suffering from the floods and the Indian Army who is helping out...this one is for them,” Rahane declared.

Man of the series Ashwin, with 31 wickets in four Tests, a Chennai local, said he would voluntarily help the suffering people.

“Happiness got the better of me, I would like to dedicate my man of the series to the people suffering from the Chennai floods,” Ashwin wrote on social networking site Twitter.

“I would also like to add that I am not going to do anything by joining hands with anyone, I would go down personally and do what I like.”

South Africa captain Hashim Amla hailed his team’s uncharacteristically dogged batting in the fourth and final Test even though it was not enough to avert their third loss in the series.

Amla, usually a fluent scorer, took 46 balls to get off the mark and toiled for 288 minutes for his 23 runs.

AB de Villiers, who holds the record for the fastest 50, 100 and 150 in one-dayers, also displayed another side of his swashbuckling batsmanship when he batted for some six hours, much of it with a swollen thumb, for his 43 runs.

“We kind of felt that was the best way to save the game for us,” Amla told reporters as he defended his team’s batting approach in their 337-run defeat.

“It would have been easy for our batters to say ‘let’s just go and have some fun and get some runs under our belts with those guys in catching positions’.

“That gains nothing, especially when you are playing for the team, playing for the country trying to save a Test match.”

In a remarkable display of dour batting, South Africa scored 143 runs in as many overs before collapsing in the very next ball in their second innings.

Faf du Plessis took 53 balls to get off the mark, while left-arm Indian spinner Ravindra Jadeja sent down 17 consecutive maidens overs.

“Nobody wants to block, you want to score runs as a batsman,” Amla said.

“The need of the time was to try and bat as long as we can, take as many risky shots out of the equation, try and draw the Test match.

“To block full tosses and half-volleys is unnatural for batting. But when it is done, you kind of appreciate the determination that somebody shows.

“AB was probably a prime example in his innings — to try and knuckle down for the team’s sake. There was no selfishness involved to do what he has done for the team.”

Amla endured a wretched India tour himself, managing 118 runs from seven innings, a far cry from his 2010 India tour when he topped the scorers’ list.

“Not being able to score runs in the series certainly was disappointing for me. As a batting unit as a whole, we just did not manage to get the runs on the board,” said Amla whose team did not go beyond 185 in the spin-dominated series.

“2010 was a wonderful year for me when I was here. But sometimes cricket goes that way, so I am not going to look too deep into it.”