India defeated South Africa 3–0 in the three-match Test series, with India winning the third Test in Ranchi. India defeated South Africa by an innings and 202 runs in the Ranchi Test match. In the second innings of the Ranchi Test match, Proteas were dismissed for 133 runs. India had scored 497 for nine wickets. This huge score included Rohit Sharma’s double century and Ajinkya Rahane’s century. South Africa was able to score 162 runs in the first innings after which they had to play follow-on. The Indian captain looked very happy after the victory. He called it a victory of the collective effort. Indeed, from bowlers to batsmen, all were able to leave their mark, but there were some players in this series whose exceptional performance played a key role in the series win. Let’s know about those players.
Rohit Sharma
In this series, Rohit Sharma’s batting gave the African bowlers sixes. Rohit smashed several records with two centuries and a double century. Seeing his incredible batting, no one can say that he has made his Test debut for the first time as an opener. Rohit scored 529 runs in four innings of this series. During this time, 62 fours and 19 sixes also came off his bat. It is also a world record. Rohit (212 runs) completed the first double century of his career with a strike rate of 83.13 from 255 balls in the first innings of the third Test.
Virat Kohli
The bat of Indian captain Virat Kohli also spoke fiercely in this series. He had contributed significantly in India’s series win by scoring a double century in the second Test in Pune Test. Kohli played a very attractive inning of 254 runs in 336 balls in this match in the second Test. However, his bat was silent before this series. He hit his last century against Australia in December 2018 at Perth. Kohli ended the century with a drought of hundreds on the second day of the Pune Test against South Africa after 10 innings. It was the 26th hundred of Virat’s career. Virat Kohli’s captaincy also played an important role in India’s series win. Cricket experts have praised Virat’s captaincy a lot.
Mayank Agarwal
Mayank Agarwal is going through the golden phase of his career. The Karnataka batsman once again proved why he is the first choice as an opener in place of Shikhar Dhawan. Mayank has almost confirmed his place in the Test team after scoring two consecutive Test centuries in the series. In Visakhapatnam, he scored his first career century, which soon converted into a double century. After KL Rahul’s poor performance as an opener, the team was looking for a reliable opener, which is being filled by Mayank Agarwal. Mayank Agarwal scored 340 runs in four innings of three Tests.
R Ashwin
Team India veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who is making a comeback after nearly 10 months, once again proved why he is one of the greatest bowlers of the current era. In the three-Test series, Ashwin became the highest wicket-taking bowler with 15 wickets. In the first innings of the second Test match played in Pune, R.W. Ashwin reached the top in terms of taking four wickets in the Test match against South Africa. Ravichandran Ashwin equalled Muttiah Muralitharan’s record with the fastest 350 wickets in this series.
Mohammad Shami
Indian fast bowlers were also seen on the spinners’ assisted pitch. Mohammed Shami became the second bowler in the series with 13 wickets. Shami’s seam and pace, which destroyed the South African batsmen and his deadly swinging balls, were also highly praised. This rarely happens when there is more talk of fast bowlers in India than spinners. In Ranchi, the balls of Shami and Umesh were wreaking havoc on the African batsmen. Earlier, in the second innings of the Visakhapatnam Test, Shami played an important role in the victory with five wickets.
