Proteas claim historic win in India, their first in 25 years

South Africa secured a sublime 2-0 series win over India — their first in 25 years in the country — after claiming a dominating 408-run victory in the second Test match of a two-match series in Guwahati.

This follows their 30-run win over India in Kolkata a week prior. To contextualise how rare winning a series in India is, prior to New Zealand claiming a 3-0 sweep in the country last year, no country had won a series there in 12 years. The last time South Africa won a single match in India, prior to this series, was 15 years ago.

But on this occasion, South Africa dominated proceedings from the first ball on day one on Saturday to the final on day five on Wednesday.

The collective effort by South Africa’s batters, led by a Senuran Muthusamy (109) maiden Test century in the first innings set the tone on day one and two, with a mammoth 489 runs.

With India having spent an over and one ball more than 150 overs in the field, their tired batters were flummoxed by the bounce of Marco Jansen — who claimed a fourth career five-wicket haul — to dismiss the Indians for 201.

Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma elected to not enforce the follow-on and batted again instead, this time taking 78.3 overs to score 260 runs before declaring after five wickets had fallen.

In total, India had spent two balls shy of 230 overs across the first four days chasing leather in the field.

The fatigued Indian batters lasted 63.5 overs before they were rolled over for 140 in their final innings, with the Proteas’ spinners doing most of the destruction on a worn Guwahati wicket on day five.

“Coming here, I would have never thought 2-0 would be the result at the end of the series,” skipper Bavuma said at the conclusion of the match. “It’s an incredible achievement for the group of players.”

Aiden Markram and his massive, steady hands also set a record after claiming nine catches in the match — mostly taken in the slips — the most ever taken in a Test match by an outfielder.

Impressive spin

Simon Harmer again led the way with the ball with his accurate off-spin bowling. The writing was on the wall at the end of day four already when a wider Harmer delivery drifted away before spinning sharply to KL Rahul — who attempted to play an expansive flick — which turned enough to disturb his stumps.

It was a sign of things to come as Harmer followed up his eight wickets in the first Test in Kolkata (two four-wicket hauls across both innings) with a superb six-wicket haul in the second innings.

It was an exhibition of quality spin bowling that no other bowler from either side displayed across the Test match, despite the helpful conditions.

“[I’m] very impressed and confident in their ability,” Bavuma said about his spin bowling crop. “Simon has come in and heavily bolstered our resources from a spin point of view.

“As a team over the years we’ve heavily relied on Keshav Maharaj. He probably wasn’t at his best this series, at his own admission.

“The way Simon came in and he did what he had to do… He was also supported by the other guys, Aiden Markram, [Senuran] Muthusamy. Our bowling has always been a strength of ours. The way the guys have stepped up, even though we didn’t have our main bowler, Kagiso [Rabada], was special.”

In total, Harmer claimed nine wickets in the match while conceding only 101 runs and was duly named the Player of the Series for his showing across both Test matches.

Golden period

South Africa’s win in Guwahati follows an incredible period of Test cricket for the Proteas. Captain Bavuma has won 11 of the 12 matches he has led the side in — an otherworldly achievement. It’s the most victories any Test captain has achieved without a defeat.

The Freedom Trophy the team received for the series victory over India will also sit pretty in the cabinet next to the World Test Championship (WTC) mace the side claimed in June after beating Australia at Lord’s.

South Africa are suddenly in a golden period of Test cricket.

“It’s good times at the moment in the team,” Bavuma said. “We won’t be taking these performances for granted.”

South Africa have also moved up to second on the WTC standings after three wins and one loss (to Pakistan last month) in the four matches they have played.

Only Australia are above them, with four wins out of four. Given that all four of South Africa’s matches have come away from home, their chances of defending their title in the WTC final have skyrocketed. DM