Overview of the match

The Indian batsmen gave an excellent account of themselves and looked firmly in control of the tie since Day 1. Mayank Agarwal managed to stun and impress once again, repeating his feats from the first test and getting another century in the bag.

While the hero of the last test, Rohit Sharma, got dismissed by Rabada early on, Virat Kohli entered the fray and stamped his authority on the game, and how. With able support from Pujara, Rahane and Jadeja, who all scored the fifties in the innings, Kohli went on a rampage mission and did not leave an inch of ground for South African bowlers before posting a total of 601 for 5.

With India firmly in the driver’s seat, Kohli decided to not go after the luring 300 and decided to declare the innings putting his team ahead of personal glory. The onus was now on the bowlers to deliver and they responded to their captain’s call.

              Team India was brilliant on the field as well. Image: BCCI

Ashwin and Umesh Yadav took seven wickets and bundled South Africa’s first innings for 275 despite some late resistance from Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj. Still, with an insurmountable lead, follow on was enforced and the Indian bowlers ran riot in the second innings to dismiss the entire South African lineup for a mere 189 and clinching a titanic win in the process. Umesh Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja got three wickets apiece. 

Player of the match

Just when you think you’ve seen everything from the Indian skipper, he goes on to the field and outdoes himself time and again. Pune saw a magical innings from the willow of Virat whose consistency for the last decade has been remarkable, marking a special epoch in the history of the game.

              Captain Kohli made all the headlines in Pune. Image: BCCI

Virat outdid the legendary Don Bradman by getting his 9^th 150-plus score as captain of a side. Virat also reached 7000 runs in Tests and is now ahead of Bradman in that category as well. This innings also made him the highest active scorer in Test cricket.

For someone who has broken, engraved and rewritten a plethora of records in the sport, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he is reaching higher peaks even at this stage of his career.

“It’s about getting the responsibility back of being a captain (on scoring the double hundred). The mindset is always to help the team and in that process, the big scores come. I think the moment you start thinking about the team, all the pressure goes away. I am at a stage in my career where I am happy to play for my team,” said the skipper after his astounding feat.

Moment of the match

Having taken time to pace his innings until he scored 150, Virat decided to put his foot on the gas while maintaining the same caution. He remained unfazed even after getting his double century and was relentless in his beating of South African bowling spells. Virat’s immense innings, his career-best total of 254 put as much distance between both the sides in the game as there is between the countries and helped seal the series for India.

Stats from the match

India made history by becoming the Test side with the most consecutive series victories at home (11), overtaking Australia’s 10. India hasn’t lost a single Test at home since 2012. This was India’s biggest victory over South Africa in Test cricket and it's tenth biggest margin of victory overall.

            Team India already has 200 points in the World Test Championships.

There were records galore for the Indian skipper as well. He registered the third-most wins as captain in the first 50 Tests behind Steve Waugh (37) and Ricky Ponting (35). Kohli being felicitated with the man of the match award was the 55^th time in his career and he is only behind the great Sachin Tendulkar (76), Sanath Jayasuriya (58) and Jacques Kallis (57) on the list.

On the other hand, Mayank Agarwal became only the second Indian opener to register tons in back-to-back Test matches against South Africa since Sehwag in 2010.

Where do Team India play next?

Team India take on South Africa in the third and final test in Ranchi from 19th October 2019.