Extreme spin ends SA's nine-year away run

India 215 (Vijay 40, Harmer 4-78, Morkel 3-35) and 173 (Dhawan 39, Tahir 5-38) 

beat

 South Africa 79 (Ashwin 5-32, Jadeja 4-33) and 151 for 6 (Ashwin 7-66, Mishra 3-51) by 124 runs

South Africa went more than nine years and 15 away trips without losing a series, but it took just seven days of cricket to end the streak. Only on the fourth and the seventh day of the series did we see a contest between bat and ball. On the seventh - the third and final day of this Test - the pitch became so slow that more edges fell short than the ones that carried. Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis provided resistance for 46.2 overs, South Africa's longest partnership of the series, South Africa even managed to get the second new ball out for the first time in the series, but they never managed to get into a threatening position after beginning the day needing 278 runs with eight wickets in hand.

R Ashwin waltzed away to his fourth 10-wicket match haul, but Amit Mishra - like he did in Mohali - broke the big partnership by getting Amla and then took du Plessis out in the last exchanges before tea. The resumption of the chase was stillborn when Ashwin took out Dean Elgar and AB de Villiers in the first 10 overs of the day. Amla and du Plessis, assisted by some good fortune, fought long and hard, but unlike the South Africa spinners, India didn't provide them with bad balls on a pitch where timing half-volleys was also a challenge.

Surprisingly, Ravindra Jadeja went wicketless in 25 overs, but it wasn't as if he didn't look like getting one. At the height of the Amla-du Plessis partnership, Jadeja still kept beating the bat with his sharp turn. Otherwise, the spin was slow, which finally gave the batsmen some trust of their defence and the pitch. Balls began to die in front of the slips. It was evident in how both of them edged twice each without the ball carrying to the cordon. And when Amla nicked Mishra when driving hard, not with soft hands or by playing late.