Man of the Series Ben Stokes

The hosts needed little more than an hour on the final day to reduce England, who won the series 2-1, from 52 for three to 101 all out with Rabada returning match figures of 13-144 to confirm his rich potential. The 20-year-old’s figures are second only to Makhaya Ntini’s 13-132 against West Indies in 2005 and Rabada became the youngest South African to take 10 wickets in a test match.

Although the series had already been decided, the victory was a welcome one for South Africa after a run of nine games without success stretching back more than a year had caused them to be knocked off the top of the world rankings by India. “The boys were fired up for this test and we’ll enjoy the celebrations,” captain AB de Villiers said at the presentation ceremony.

“We showed a lot of character and hopefully we can build on this now. There is a bright future for us.”

Chasing an unlikely victory target of 382 on a wearing wicket, England’s hopes of batting out the day were undone by a combination of rash stroke-making and excellent swing bowling.

James Taylor (24) got a snorter from Morne Morkel (3-36) that brushed his glove and was caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to kickstart a procession of England batsmen.

Joe Root (20), who had already been dropped by De Kock off Dane Piedt, drove wildly at the spinner and was caught at slip by Dean Elgar.

Rabada then got in on the act as he was made to celebrate his record-breaking 10-wicket haul twice — first having Jonny Bairstow (14) caught at slip off a no-ball and then inducing another edge from the very next delivery to De Kock.

Man-of-the-series Ben Stokes (10) was caught at deep midwicket off Morkel as he fell into a short-ball trap, before Rabada cleaned up the tail efficiently for innings figures of 6-32. “It’s been a disappointing five days with the way we have played,” England skipper Alastair Cook said. “We haven’t quite been on it and had to try hang in there. Credit to South Africa, they played well.” The teams will now play a five-match one-day international series starting on Feb. 3, followed by two Twenty20 games. – Agencies

India, who have already sealed the series with wins in the first and third Tests, had bowled out the top-ranked tourists for 121 after making 334 for a first-innings lead of 213 runs.
Kohli’s stand with Rahane, who top-scored with 127 in his first outing, was the first century-stand of what had been a low-scoring series so far.
With the Kotla pitch likely to deteriorate on the fourth and fifth days, it will be an uphill task for the Proteas to breach India’s run wall.

The visitors have been bowled out under 200 five times out of six innings in the series.
“The way we batted in the first innings has put us in a good position,” said Ravindra Jadeja, who took a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
“They could not bat well in the first innings and we got a big margin of 213 runs. This made the big difference.”
Paceman Morne Morkel was the most impressive bowler on show, taking three wickets while giving away just 29 runs from 17 overs.
CHIEF SCORE
India 334 and 190 for 4 (Kohli 83*, Rahane 52*, Morkel 3-29)
South Africa 121