South Africa cricket team won a Test series on tour to India after 25 years. The Proteas defeated India in the Eden Gardens and Guwahati Tests.

India lost the first Test of the series in Kolkata within three days. India has lost five of the last seven Tests at home.

South Africa last won a Test series in India in 2000 under the captaincy of Hansie Cronje.

Chasing a target of 549 runs set by South Africa in the Guwahati Test, India lost by a huge margin of 408 runs. This is India’s biggest defeat in Test cricket in terms of runs.

India, who finished the fourth day with 27 runs for 2 wickets, lost 8 wickets on the fifth and final day after batting 48 overs and scoring 113 runs. India was all out for 140 runs in the second innings.

The record for the highest run chase in the fourth innings in Test cricket is 418. The mountain-high target that India set (549 runs) was an impossible dream from the beginning. Only one Indian batsman tried to fight for such a target, Ravindra Jadeja. He played an innings of 54 runs off 87 balls.

The biggest blow in India’s second innings was dealt by Proteas spinner Simon Harmer. He crushed the Indian batting lineup by taking 6 wickets for 37 runs. He took 9 wickets in this Test in both innings.

Harmer’s record on Indian soil is enviable. His total wickets in 4 Tests are now 27. With this, Harmer is now the highest wicket-taker for South Africa on Indian soil, surpassing South African legend Dale Steyn.

Harmer was the man of the series with the highest 17 wickets in the two Tests. Marco Jansen, who took 6 wickets in India’s first innings, was the man of the match.

Brief scores:

South Africa: 489 and 260/5 (declared)

India: 201 and 140 (Jadeja 54, Sudarshan 14, Pant 13, Jaiswal 13; Harmer 6/37, Maharaj 2/37, Muttusamy 1/21)

Result: South Africa won by 408 runs

Man of the match: Marco Jansen (South Africa)

Man of the series: Simon Harmer (South Africa)

Series: South Africa won the two-match series 2–0