Dean Elgar and Quinton De Kock earned praises from the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar after they clinically aided South Africa's recovery from a brutal spin attack from India. As South Africa closed Day three on 385-8 trailing India by 117 runs, ICC Hall of Famer Sachin Tendulkar lauded South Africa's batsmen and said that they had applied themselves well to recover from an early and steady collapse. It was Dean Elgar, Faf DuPlessis and Quinton de Kock who lead the recovery for the Proteas after Ravichandran Ashwin wrecked havoc along with Ravindra Jadeja. Sachin Tendulkar hailed Ashwin and said that he had proved his worth in the longer format of the game. Ashwin picked up five wickets in 41 overs, announcing his return to the longer format of the game at home while Ravindra Jadeja picked up two scalps and pacer Ishant Sharma added one to his tally. 

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Master Blaster all praises for Ashwin, Proteas batsmen

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'Tried different things'

Ravichandran Ashwin, playing his first Test match since December last year, says he badly missed playing for India in the last 10 months, so much so that the wily off-spinner stopped watching the game. The 33-year-old, who has been playing only one format for India since July 2017, last played the Adelaide Test from December 6 to 10, the first of the four on the tour of Australia. To his disappointment, Ashwin did not feature in the playing eleven in the following Test series against the West Indies in August-September when India only played one spinner in Ravindra Jadeja. "To stay away from cricket itself was very tough for me. In order to substitute, I played whatever games I got. I tried and made an opportunity for myself to go and play some county cricket (for Nottinghamshire). I tried and played the TNPL as much as I could, played some league cricket in Chennai," he said."It was very important to tick those numbers off because that is essentially where I came from. Going back and playing there is probably the best thing that could have happened," said Ashwin, who when asked about time away from national duty. After claiming his 27th five-wicket haul in Tests on Friday, Ashwin showed that he remained India's go-to spinner in home conditions.

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Dean Elgar credits County cricket

Opener Dean Elgar said he may have made his best hundred for South Africa on Friday in the first Test against India here and credited county cricket, including his battles with R Ashwin there, for making him a better batsman against quality spin. Elgar made 160 off 287 balls, leading South Africa's fightback on day three here. "Any three-figure mark for South Africa is a massive moment for me. It's always an emotional time. A lot of hard graft has happened in the previous series where you have failed. You look back and you realise that it's very special. Even in the trying conditions that we have, we have not experienced heat like this back home," Elgar said at the press conference after the day's play.

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