Published 17:28 IST, October 24th 2019
Kagiso Rabada signs off with a message for India: "Hats off"
South Africa's Kagiso Rabada bid goodbye to India as the Proteas prepared to head back home after a humiliating series loss to India in the longer format
South Africa's Kagiso Rabada bid goodbye to India as the Proteas prepared to head back home after a humiliating series loss to India in the longer format of the game. India whitewashed South Africa 3-0 to leapfrog to 240 points on the World Test Championship table and are now comfortably settled at the top without any opposition whatsoever. Kagiso Rabada's fiery spells proved to be ineffective as the Indian batsmen were too good for the visitors. As Kagiso Rabada headed back home, he had a message for the 'better team' and took to Twitter to bid goodbye to India.
Kagiso Rabada's special message for India
India complete whitewash
India took only two overs to wrap South Africa’s second innings on Tuesday as they won the third Test by an innings and 202 runs at Ranchi. In the process, they whitewashed South Africa (SA) 3-0. This is not just the 4th biggest innings defeat for SA, but also only the third time since re-admission that the team has lost all matches in a series involving three or more Tests. The last occasion on which SA lost two or more consecutive Tests in a series by an innings margin was against Australia at home in the 1935-36 season. Furthermore, on his own, swashbuckling opener Rohit Sharma scored more runs in an innings (212) than what the entire SA team could manage in each innings respectively.
Proteas fail to mount any challenge
SA’s woes were summed up by the fact that pacer Umesh Yadav also hit a quickfire 31 from simply 10 balls with 5 huge sixes. On the other hand, SA could not handle India’s fiery pace attack and the wily spinners, collapsing for 162. Only Zubayr Hamza put up some fight scoring a half-century. Thereafter, India imposed the follow-on. But SA’s response failed to be different as they lost their top order batsmen very early in the innings. Apart from Ravichandran Ashwin, every bowler rose to the occasion. Debutant left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem picked two wickets in each innings. He took the final wicket of the SA innings to secure an 11th straight series win for India on home soil.
Updated 17:38 IST, October 24th 2019