IND VS RSA - 3rd Test, South Africa tour of India, 2019

With 240 points in 5 Tests, India are miles ahead of any other team in the ICC World Test Championship. New Zealand and Sri Lanka with 60 points each are ranked at number 2 and 3 respectively. Shows how dominant team India have been as a force, in the longest format. Bangladesh will soon be touring India, but you can expect a much better performance by the neighbours, with them accustomed to these conditions. That's all we've got from this Test series, it was a pleasure bringing you the live coverage over the last few weeks. For now, this is Nikhil Jadhav signing off on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Vineet Anantharaman, Kumar Abhisekh Das, Hariprasad Sadanandan and Venky. Adios from the Cricbuzz comm box!

Harsha Bhogle: The most encouraging thing for India is that the wickets have been shared between the quicks and the spinners. It means there is always a wicket-taking bowler that the captain to turn to.

Virat Kohli, winning captain: Amazing, as you guys have spoken about everything, you guys have seen from the outside, the way we've been playing and the way we have come off as a side. Making things happen on pitches that don't offer much. Really proud of the whole team to be honest. Even when we travelled away from home, we competed in every game, we wanted to win and do the difficult things. It all starts from the mind. It's amazing to see the mindset of the team, it's been a brilliant series for us. To be the best side in the world, you need to be multi-dimensional. All facets of your team have to fire. Spin was always a strength, batting was never a problem for us. Fast bowling was very good and then young bowlers came in. Ishant was the only experienced bowler in the lot. The fielders started working hard as well. The catching has been brilliant as well. It's great to see when you operate in such a way. Even not with much experience, we believe we can win anywhere in the world. We can win anywhere, England, Australia, South Africa, good things are going to follow. I agree with him (Ravi Shastri). The game responds to hard work and mindset. We have been doing well in the limited-over formats too.

Rohit Sharma | Man of the Match, Man of the Series: I said it before as well, thankful to the management for the opportunity. Considering how the series has gone by, I can take a lot of positives, especially how to counter that new ball. The new ball will be a threat anywhere in the world. It's been a great start, so I don't want to let it go. That started long back in 2013, when I started opening for India in white ball cricket. I realised you need to have discipline at the start of the innings. Once you are in, you can play your game. That's what I have done, I follow a certain template that allows me to have some success. You need support from the management, coach, captain, that has helped a lot. Test cricket is a different ball game, getting that big score will give me confidence moving forward. I was trying to be mindful about that. You need to be disciplined, I kept talking to myself. I wanted to make a big score and get my team into good positions.

Faf du Plessis, losing captain: (On going downward through the series) That's the frustrating part of the tour. Starting the first innings at Vizag, there were good signs for us. But we went the other way and kept making more mistakes as the series went on. You got to give credit to the Indian team. This is a really tough Indian team under Virat. Be it in the batting, bowling or even fielding, we were dominated across the series. We spoke about this (India's spin threat) before the series. The mindset coming here, especially after 2015, was to be prepared for the spin attack. But the pitches were fantastic. India's seamers were outstanding through the series. Our seamers were good for 30-40 minutes but their's were able to do that throughout the day. I think it's the nature of the skill of the bowler. If you look at those who succeeded this series, it's their skiddy nature that's key but they're also in the right areas most of the time. In SA, the natural length is shorter and you need to make that adjustment here. That's what you need to do in international cricket. We have young guys coming through and in the coming 3-4 years, they will get experienced. Been a really tough series for us but we need to ensure that when we tour again, we are better equipped. This is the toughest place to tour, the statistics say that. They've won, 11 or 12 series in a row? So, it's been a very tough place to tour and it should only get better for us from here.

Harsha Bhogle: There is a lot of talk around the world about pitches in India. It is time to bury that because the last few wins have all come on normal pitches. Here in Ranchi, Saha collected a ball over his head on the 4th morning!

Indian batsmen outscoring opposition in each innings:
V Mankad (231) v NZ (209,219) Chennai 1955/56
R Dravid (270) v Pak (224,245) Rawalpindi 2003/04
S Tendulkar (248) v Ban (184,202) Dhaka 2004/05
V Kohli (243) v SL (205,166) Nagpur 2017/18
R Sharma (212) v SA (162, 133) Ranchi 2019/20

Harsha Bhogle: A great catch and a bizarre dismissal this morning. But it took only 9 mins and 2 overs to produce India's biggest win over South Africa.

India vs South Africa:
Under Kohli: Seven wins in ten Tests (Win% 70.00)
Under all other captains: Seven wins in 29 Tests (Win% 24.14)

Third instance of South Africa getting whitewashed since re-admission in a series of 3+ Tests:
0-3 vs Aus in Aus 2001/02
0-3 vs Aus in SA 2005/06
0-3 vs Ind in Ind 2019/20

Biggest innings defeats for SA:
Innings & 360 runs v Aus Joburg 2001/02
Innings & 259 runs v Aus Port Elizabeth 1949/50
Innings & 202 runs v Eng Cape Town 1888/89
Innings & 202 runs v Ind Ranchi 2019/20 *

Ravi Shastri: We had a wish that we could take pitch out of the equation. We always wanted to take 20 wickets irrespective of where we were playing. Our batting is pretty much like a Ferrari taking off. We are just focussed on taking 20 wickets. Ajinkya Rahane was always there. He just needed to rediscover himself. When you need to open in Tests, you might get out in the first 10 balls. But Rohit did well to hang in there for the first two hours. And things changed after lunch for him to take advantage of that. The job satisfaction that an opener gets is wonderful. Extremely impressed with Nadeem. He comes over the top and has a great wrist position. The guy has put in the yards at the domestic level and am glad he finally had his chance at his home ground. He had no nerves and bowled three maidens on the trot. It is a team effort. Normally, in India you have two players hogging the limelight. But here you have 6 or 7 chipping in. You have a captain who leads with example and gets a double hundred. You have Pujara chipping in, you have Rahane scoring the runs in the middle order. You have Jadeja scoring runs at 6 and picking up wickets. That is what you want. Till it is going well, enjoy!

Mayank Agarwal: I was very happy that I could make my debut in Australia. Also happy to whatever little contribution we can make to the team. It is hard work over a period of many years to produce results like this. Kudos to our bowlers for taking 20 wickets and putting us in winning situations. Standing at short leg and seeing their batsmen hop and struggle against the short balls is pleasing, we also face a lot of heat while facing them. Our fast bowlers are giving back what they get, not only the bouncers but the areas that they bowl in as well.

Mohammad Shami: We were always ready. I knew my job and knew how to operate in Indian conditions. Virat gives us a lot of confidence and freedom. He just sets you free and that helps an individual's confidence. We just try to maintain the right lines and lengths. The Indian crowd is also behind when we play at home. Fitness matters a lot. The team environment speaks highly about fitness. We enjoy each other's confidence. We know our conditions and our fast bowling unit has come up in the last few years. (Translated from Hindi)

The biggest positive for India has been Rohit Sharma - the Test opener. There were plenty of expectations of him and the Hitman has delivered in the best possible way. It was the perfect approach by him right throughout the series. Negotiating the new cherry by giving the first hour or so to the bowlers and then coming into his own. The bowlers didn't disappoint either - be it the spinners or be it the pacers. India as a unit will be pretty pleased with this effort at the end of the day. Hang in for the presentations..

The last time South Africa lost two or more consecutive Tests in a series by an innings margin - three against Australia at home in 1935/36.

09:42 Local Time, 04:12 GMT, 09:42 IST: Yet another commanding victory for Kohli and company as they have whitewashed South Africa for the first ever time in a Test series. Handshakes all around, but such a dominating performances this has been by the number 1 ranked Test team. Rohit Sharma laid the foundation for a huge first innings score with his prolific double century, and then it were the Indian pacers who wreaked havoc over the last two days. Shami was at his lethal best and so was Umesh Yadav. Debutant Shahbaz Nadeem chipped in with few wickets and a terrific run-out on day 3. All in all, it was a clinical all-round performance by team India over the course of these four days.

Nadeem to Lungi Ngidi, out Caught&Bowled!! Game, set, match! India beat South Africa by an innings and 202 runs and clinch the series 3-0. Bizarre dismissal to finish things off. Lungi Ngidi had smashed this one right back to the non-striker who gets in the way. The ball hits his shoulder and lobs towards Nadeem who takes a safe catch. So all South Africa could manage this morning was survive 12 deliveries. Nortje was in pain for a moment, but then, even more painful has been this series for the Proteas. Lungi Ngidi c and b Nadeem 0(1)

Nadeem to Lungi Ngidi, THATS OUT!! Caught&Bowled!!

Lungi Ngidi, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Nadeem to de Bruyn, out Caught by W Saha!! Saha had adviced Nadeem the odd-ball will keep low, and here it is. This is the one that kept reallly low and hats off to the keeper who has taken a sharp catch. A flatter delivery around off and it skids along the deck, de Bruyn looks to punch it off his back foot, but ends up getting an inside edge, or rather a bottom edge. Sharp low catch by Saha and that's game over for the concussion substitute. de Bruyn c W Saha b Nadeem 30(49) [4s-4 6s-1]

Nadeem to de Bruyn, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Nadeem to de Bruyn, no run, makes room does de Bruyn and drives the tossed up delivery towards cover