Off-spinner Simon Harmer picked a six-wicket haul as South Africa defeated India by 408 runs in the second Test to complete a 2-0 series whitewash here on Wednesday.
The loss marks another embarrassing chapter in India’s Test history as it was their biggest loss in terms of runs. It was South Africa’s first series win in India in 25 years.
Chasing an improbable 549-run target, Ravindra Jadeja waged a lone battle, scoring an 87-ball 54.
Harmer, who recorded career-best figures of 6/37, ended with a match haul of nine wickets.
The tourists outplayed India in all three departments, with Aiden Markram (9) setting the record for most catches in a Test match, overtaking Ajinkya Rahane’s eight claimed in 2015.
Sai Sudharsan’s excruciating 138-ball stay came to an end as Senuran Muthusamy had him caught by Markram soon after the second session began as India failed to reach even 150.
Stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant on Wednesday conceded that India needed to get better as a Test team, and said results cannot be taken for granted just because of playing in home conditions.
“It’s little disappointing. As a team we need to get better. We need to give credit to the opposition. They dominated the series but at the same time, you can’t take cricket for granted (because of playing at home),” said Pant in the post-match presentation.
Pant said India will have to learn from the series and get better in future.
“We need to take the learning and stick as a team. We needed to be clear with our mindset. In the future, we need to learn from it and get better.”
The wicketkeeper-batter admitted that South Africa played better cricket throughout the series.
“They played better cricket, cricket demands that you need to capitalise as a team. And we did not do that and that cost us the whole series.
“The positive will be focussing on our own plan and that’s what we will take from this series,” he added.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma was delighted to sweep the series.
“It’s massive. For me personally, I’ve been out of the game for a couple of months with injury. Not every day you can come to India and walk away with a 2-0 series win.