South Africa hammer India by 408 runs to complete historic clean sweep

Guwahati, day five of the fifth test

South Africa 489 (Muthusamy 109, Yadav 4-115) &amp, 260-5d (Stubbs 94, Jadeja 4-62)

India 201 (Jaiswal 58, Jansen 6-48) &amp, 140 (Jadeja 54, Harmer 6-37)

South Africa wins by 408 runs.

South Africa completed a potent 2-0 series sweep in Guwahati on Wednesday, defeating India by one run, taking their heaviest defeat.

In the second Test, the Proteas won by 408 runs, clinching their first series victory since 2000 under Hansie Cronje.

India’s previous heaviest loss, 342 runs versus Australia in Nagpur in 2004, is now overshadowed by this defeat.

After losing to New Zealand by a 3-0 margin last year, India has lost its second home series. prior to that they had won a 12-year Test series on their own soil.

Gautam Gambhir, India’s head coach, said that “four or five batters in this top eight have played figuratively less than 15 test matches.”

They are learning while working, and they will grow. On the job, they are acquiring knowledge. When playing against a top-notch team, test cricket is never simple. You must also allow them time, as you know, because this is what transition is all about.

On day four, South Africa had declared their second innings a record-chasing 549-5.

However, on the final day, the visitors’ only countermeasure was Ravindra Jadeja’s 140 against India, who had beaten them for it in 63.5 overs.

“It’s a great feeling, everyone makes a great effort to be fair,” Markram said.

You’ve got to think as a group that you can compete with the best in their backyard, enter the fray, and watch the team win,” the team said.

With the victory, South Africa, who defeated Australia at Lord’s in June to become World Test Champions, has won 11 of their 12 matches under Temba Bavuma’s leadership.

Gambhir is put under more pressure as a result.

India have won seven Tests but lost ten since the former batter took over in July 2024.

Add to the defeats suffered by New Zealand and South Africa, who lost 3-1 in Australia last December and January, and Gambhir’s side drew 2-2 in England in the summer.

In addition to being ranked ninth and eighth, respectively, in the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings, their two series victories came in Bangladesh and at home to West Indies.

When asked what his future holds, Gambhir responded, “Indian cricket is important, I’m not important.

I’m the same person who led the team in England, and people keep forgetting about it. with a young team. And I’m the same person who also won the Asia Cup and the Champions Trophy.

Although commentator Harsha Bhogle wrote on X that “the Indian team had an aura around them when they were playing in India,” the approach and setup has been questioned. In the distance, you can see it vanish.

There are a lot of opening positions for this Indian Test team. Some players aren’t up to this level. How many others have finished, exactly?

Venkatesh Prasad, a former India bowler who played 33 Test matches between 1996 and 2001, claimed that India used “rank poor tactics.”

“Really disappointed by the way that India plays in their Test matches. When you don’t bowl them, the all-rounder obsession is “absolutely brain-fade,” Prasad said on X.

“An unprecedented two-series whitewash at home, poor tactics, poor body language, and poor body language. Hope that Test matches nine months away and this negative approach are not the result of this.

It’s disappointing to see what has happened over the past year and a half just to prove this flawed strategy wrong because we all love Indian cricket. truly disappointing that they can’t function on such egos in the interest of Indian cricket.