It all started with India losing the first two Tests in Cape Town and Centurion by 72 and 135 runs respectively, thus losing the series. Little did the Proteas know that winning the third and final Test would mean so much to the Indian team. By then, India were well acquainted with the South African conditions and coping from the first two defeats was the test of their mettle. The Test match at Johannesburg provided an enormous platform to build on it. Who would have thought that a clash between the top two ODI sides could end up being one-sided? The number one side in ODIs (now former) were completely dominated in all the matches, except for the rain affected fourth ODI. The Proteas were outplayed in every department and there was not a single performance from them which could pose any kind of threat in winning any of those matches. South Africa were bowled out four times out of six, as they could never find a solution for their dismal batting performances. But this fact doesn’t take away any credit from the Indian bowlers who accounted for 53 wickets in this series.

The last ODI was a dead rubber, as the series was already won, but this game could have provided a similar platform for the Proteas like the last Test did for the Indian team. It was expected from them to break free and play without any kind of pressure, but they succumbed to their own bad form yet again. India won the toss and invited the hosts to put up a target. India had made just one change; Shardul Thakur was in for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. On the other hand, the Proteas had made four changes in their team with Khaya Zondo, Farhaan Behardien, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris coming into the side.

The start to the South African innings was no different from the previous ones as they started with a fair bit of confidence, but lost the wicket too soon. Amla couldn’t control the shot on the delivery that was short and angling down the leg side and he gloved it behind to Dhoni. Soon, Markram followed him trying to hit the slow off-cutter over the covers. Shreyas Iyer took a brilliant catch. Khaya Zondo and AB de Villiers started to rebuild the innings with some confidence. Zondo was confidently playing the Indian spinners. AB’s three consecutive fours in Kuldeep’s over followed by Zondo’s two sixes in Chahal’s over gave the South African side some hope. They looked like they could take this innings past 300. However, AB de Villiers couldn’t read Chahal’s googly as he created some room for himself to cut it, only to be bowled. Their important partnership of 62 runs came to an end with a bad shot selection.

South Africa never really recovered after that wicket. Klaasen’s innings was a cautious play of 22 runs in 39 deliveries. In almost 10 overs of their partnership, they scored just 30. Klaasen was dismissed by Bumrah’s slower delivery and was caught by Kohli. Behardien and Morris quickly departed as Shardul Thakur got one more and Kuldeep opened his account for the day with Morris’ wicket. Zondo completed his maiden fifty and then was invited by Chahal to his tempting tossed up delivery which he failed to time and got caught by Hardik Pandya. Morkel and Phehlukwayo’s partnership of 36 runs was the second highest of their innings. Wickets kept falling after that. Phehlukwayo managed to drag their innings past 200 with some of his boundaries, but Shardul Thakur got him to complete his 4-fer in his first match of the tour.

The target of 205 was not a difficult task on the ground which had an average first inning total of more than 300. India started their innings with Rohit and Dhawan at the crease. Rohit, fresh from his recent century, played a few beautiful shots for boundaries before he misjudged Ngidi’s short delivery yet again and gave an easy catch to the wicket-keeper. Dhawan, who was in great form this series, had a little trouble scoring freely at the beginning but Kohli compensated for his caution, as he didn’t find any trouble facing the short deliveries. Soon, Dhawan too got into momentum, but it was Ngidi again, who provided the breakthrough.

The South African bowlers continued to bowl short to Kohli, hoping he would fall to them. However, Kohli was enjoying playing those deliveries and there was not a single moment where he was challenged or troubled. Rahane gave him good support at the other end and Kohli just cruised the innings to the target. With the target as low as 205, Kohli still managed to score 129 runs and this unbeaten knock took his run total in this series to 558, most by a batsman in a bilateral series. It was his third century in the series, and he was the man of the match and the tournament. Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were equally responsible for this series win as their phenomenal bowling performances restricted the South African batsmen from making any kind of impact in the series.

The series was expected to be a mixture of ups and downs for both the teams, but it was all about ups for the visitors and only downs for the hosts. Aiden Markram, who was made captain of South African team having played just two ODIs prior to that, had a tough start as skipper. On the other hand, with 35 ODI centuries on his name, and back to back ODI series wins, the Indian captain is looking unstoppable. The tour isn’t over yet, and on Sunday, 18th February, India and South Africa will play their first T20I at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg; the place where India got back to winning ways.