The Virat Kohli-led side on Tuesday crushed South Africa by an innings and 202 runs on the fourth day of the third and final Test to complete a 3-0 series whitewash at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi.
Having reduced South Africa to 132 for eight on the third day of the final Test, debutant Shahbaz Nadeem bagged the remaining two wickets to bundle out the Faf du Plessis-led side for 133 in the second innings and clinch a three-match series sweep.
On Sunday, Mohammad Shami (three wickets) and Umesh Yadav (two wickets) tore apart South Africa’s batting line-up to reduce them to 132 for eight in their second innings after enforcing follow-on on the third day of the final Test.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin also chipped in with a wicket each.
Earlier, India declared their first innings at 497 for nine before bundling out South Africa cheaply for 162 and enforcing follow-on. Rohit Sharma (212) and Ajinkya Rahane (115) were the top scorers for the hosts.
India had won the opening match by 203 runs in Visakhapatnam while they registered a massive victory by an innings and 137 runs in the second Test at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
The series, which saw the hosts dominate South Africa in the all three aspects of the game, also saw the Indian players break an array of records.
Let us take a look at a few of them:
# Indian opener Rohit Sharma became the first player from the country to score a century in all three formats of the game as an opener when he smashed an unbeaten knock of 176 during the first Test against South Africa at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
# With this, Sharma also became the fourth batsman from the country after Shikhar Dhawan (187 vs Australia in Mohali, 2013), KL Rahul (110 vs Australia, Sydney, 2015) and Prithvi Shaw (134 v West Indies, Rajkot, 2018) to score a century while opening the innings for the very first time in Tests.
# By scoring a ton, the right-handed batsman also became the seventh cricketer in the world to hit a hundred as an opener in each format of the game after West Indies' Chris Gayle, New Zealand's Brendon McCullum, New Zealand's Martin Guptill, Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan, Pakistan's Ahmed Shehzad, Australia's Shane Watson and Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal.
# En route to his blistering 176-run knock, Rohit also became the second Indian batsman after former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid to notch up six straight fifty-plus scores on home soil. He had earlier smashed three half-centuries against Sri Lanka and two against New Zealand at home in 2017.
# Rohit followed his century in the first innings of the opening Test with a brilliant127-run knock in the second innings to become the first batsman to score hundred in both innings of his debut match as an opener in Test cricket.
# During the series, the Indian opener also equaled legendary Test batsman Sunil Gavaskar's record of scoring three or more tons as opener in a Test series when he smashed a 212-run knock off 255 balls during the third match. It was also Rohit's maiden double Test ton.
# Rohit Sharma has also become only the fifth Indian opener after Vinoo Mankad, Budhi Kunderan, Sunil Gavskar and Virender Sehwag to score 500-plus runs in a single Test series.
# Indian skipper Virat Kohli become the first batsman of the country to score seven double centuries in the longest format of the game when he smashed a massive 254-run knock in the first innings of the second Test--which was also his career-best score.
# En route to his blistering knock, Kohli also surpassed former opener Virender Sehwag and legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for the most double hundreds in Test cricket by an Indian.
# Kohli, who scored his first twin century against the West Indies in 2016, also went past former Australian cricketer Don Bradman's tally of 6,996 runs in Test cricket. With 7,000 runs in 81 Test matches, he also became the third-fastest Indian and joint fourth-fastest overall to amass these many runs.
# Not only this, Kohli also went past legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar to become the fourth fastest player to reach 26 Test centuries in terms of innings played. Kohli took 138 innings to reach the mark, while the former India cricketer scored his 26th Test ton in 144 innings.
# As the captain, Kohli became the first skipper to enforce a follow-on on South Africa in the longest format of the game since 2008. The 30-year-old asked South Africa to bat again on the fourth day of the second Test in Pune after bundling out the visitors for 275 runs to take a massive 326-run lead in their first innings on Saturday.
# Meanwhile, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma also became the first three Indian batsmen to score a double century in the same Test series.
Agarwal scored a knock of 215 runs on the second day of the opening Test against the Faf du Plessis-led side.
India are now slated to play two-match Test series against Bangladesh, beginning November 14 at Holkar Stadium in Madhya Pradesh.
