It took India all of 10 minutes to wrap things up on Tuesday.
Fittingly, it was Jharkhand’s Shahbaz Nadeem who polished off the final two South African wickets, in the second over of the morning. Theunis de Bruyn under-edged a ball that stayed low, and Wriddhiman Saha, back on the field, held a good catch behind the stumps.
Two deliveries later, a powerful drive from Lungi Ngidi thudded into Anrich Nortje’s body at the non-striker’s end. The ball popped up in the air and an alert Nadeem grabbed the rebound.
While India's players celebrated, Nortje was doubled over in pain: it was an image that summed up the Freedom Series.
Huge win
Following on, South Africa was bowled out for 133 on the fourth day of the third Test, giving India victory by an innings and 202 runs at the JSCA Stadium. The 3-0 series sweep strengthened India's position at the top of the ICC World Test Championship table, its points tally now up to 240.
A beaming Virat Kohli felt his side's display in the series, India's first whitewash in Tests over South Africa, had been perfect. "This is on par with the most balanced performances we have had in the past," he said. “We were not bowled out even once. I don't think we allowed the opposition to get into the game at any point.”
Rohit Sharma was declared the player of the match and the series. It was nothing less than the Mumbai batsman deserved, after amassing 529 runs in four innings, with three hundreds, including a score of 212 here.
India's move to refashion Rohit as a Test opener has met with resounding success. He will face sterner tests abroad, not least in New Zealand, where India is set to travel in the new year, and it is important not to get carried away.
But, it’s also important to acknowledge how well Rohit has begun in a new role. He left the ball well, and showed the patience and the resolve required of someone opening the innings.
Once Rohit had batted through the tough periods, which he did in three of his four innings, South Africa simply did not have any first-change bowler capable of troubling him. And he duly cashed in.
"There was always an anticipation about how he would perform as an opener in Test cricket, as he has been the world's best opener in ODI cricket for a long time," said Kohli.
"Despite missing close to two sessions because of rain, his pace of scoring gave us so much of time to bowl them out twice. Credit solely goes to him for the way he overcame his anxiety and hesitation.”
Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the series win for Kohli will be that contributions came from a number of players at various times.
Fine contributions
Mayank Agarwal, only four Test matches old at the start of this series, scored a double hundred in Visakhapatnam and a century in the second Test.
Ajinkya Rahane, who hadn't scored a Test hundred in two years until he broke that streak in the West Indies, made vital runs. Umesh Yadav, bowling in a Test for the first time in 10 months, ran through South Africa's top order in Pune.
Nadeem, who was called up to the squad less than 24 hours from the third Test, looked a first-team regular on debut, finishing with a match haul of four for 40.
Saha, who had not played Test cricket for a year and a half, kept like he had never been away.
"We are very happy to have created a culture where the players do not think of individual performances but perform for the team,” said Kohli. “You play under pressure if you think of your own performance. When you think for the team, it always turns out to be a collective show."
