WATCH: The anatomy of Vernon Philander’s Test-best spell

Vernon Philander duly struck with the new ball as hoped for by his captain, but it was with a slightly older ball that he claimed the two key wickets that set South Africa on the way to their thrilling 72-run win over India in the first Test at Newlands on Monday.

South Africa’s collapse on the fourth morning from 65 for two to 130 all out left them with a lead of just 207, and captain Faf du Plessis knew his team would have to strike early and with some regularity to prevent India from winning the game.

“The plan was to get 350 ahead and bowl at them tonight, so I was nervous when India batted straight after lunch and we knew the new ball was key. We knew that if we could put pressure on them then we could get through them,” Du Plessis said after the triumph.

Openers Shikhar Dhawan (16) and Murali Vijay (13) were able to add 30 before Morne Morkel and Philander struck in successive overs, the Newlands hero having Vijay smartly taken in the slips by a diving AB de Villiers.

But the threat of Virat Kohli, ranked the number two batsman in the world behind prolific Australian Steven Smith, remained and the Indian captain went smoothly to 28 off 40 balls.

After a six-over burst from his beloved Wynberg End, Philander rested for six overs and then returned from the Kelvin Grove End, the absence of the injured Dale Steyn meaning the Proteas had to win the game with just three pacemen.

He immediately began bowling away-swingers outside off stump and, although Kohli was leaving well, his runs were drying up and he was being dragged across his crease.

When the straighter ball came, he couldn’t resist trying to work it through the leg-side, but his front leg had moved to the same position it had been in for all those previous deliveries.

He could not play around it as Philander nipped the ball back  and claimed a brilliantly-executed lbw without even turning to look at the umpire.

Kohli reviewed but it was more out of hope than expectation, and he was sent on his way.

“Kohli is obviously a very good, aggressive player, and we knew he was the big wicket to get, so I just wanted to keep him quiet and set him up for the other one, I always knew I had the one coming back up my sleeve. So I bowled him maybe two-and-a-half overs of away-swing to first drag him across.

“You always have a quicker heartbeat when the batsman reviews, they have to check the front line first and then DRS maybe goes its own way. But from the get-go I knew he was stone dead,” Philander said.

The bustling seamer had to return again after tea to end a troublesome 49-run stand between Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and this was achieved with yet more tactical nous.

Ashwin had gone to 37 when Du Plessis suggested wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock stand up to the stumps.

The next ball was an away-swinger that drew a flatfooted waft from Ashwin, found the edge and De Kock took a fine catch.

“I’m always open to suggestions and that one goes to Faf. Ashwin was batting far out of his crease and it was an older ball. We just wanted to push him back and get all three dismissals – lbw, bowled and caught – back in play and it worked,” Philander said.

It started a run of three wickets in four balls for Philander that ended the game and left him with career-best figures of six for 42, his 12th five-wicket haul & his fourth in eight Tests at Newlands.

“He’s a different kind of bowler to the rest of the South African attack, he has different strengths. He’s always pitching in areas of uncertainty and seaming the ball both ways. It was a really good effort by South Africa with just three seamers today,” Kohli acknowledged.

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