KOLKATA, Dec 2: Off spinner Harbhajan Singh took seven wickets as India crushed South Africa by eight wickets to clinch the two-Test series 1-0 on Thursday.
Harbhajan's 15th five-wicket haul in his 41st Test helped dismiss the tourists for 222, leaving India a victory target of 117 which they reached in the 40th over with Rahul Dravid contributing an unbeaten 47.
The series victory was India's first on home soil since beating West Indies in 2002. They drew with New Zealand last year and lost 2-1 to Australia last month. Harbhajan struck when South Africa had added just 11 to their overnight 172 for five, deceiving Jacques Kallis (55) in the air and holding a return catch on a turning Eden Gardens pitch.
Shaun Pollock completed 3,000 Test runs when he reached six but was given out next ball by umpire Daryl Harper, caught at bat-pad by Gautam Gambhir off Harbhajan. Television replays suggested Pollock was unlucky on two counts as he did not appear to nick the ball and the catch may not have been taken cleanly.
Man-of-the-Match Harbhajan struck again in the same over, having Justin Ontong caught for a duck by wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik as he attempted to sweep. Anil Kumble bowled Thami Tsolekile for one to reduce South Africa to 194 for nine before Zander de Bruyn (32 not out) shared a 28-run last-wicket stand with Makhaya Ntini (12).
Ntini became Kumble's 434th Test victim, putting the leg-spinner level with Kapil Dev as India's highest Test wicket-taker. South Africa removed Man-of-the-Series Virender Sehwag, who scored a century in the first Test and a blazing 88 in the first innings, for 10 when he edged a rising ball from Ntini straight to captain Graeme Smith in the slips.
Gambhir and Dravid struck a flurry of boundaries, however, before left-hander Gambhir was lbw for 26 offering no shot to spinner Jacques Rudolph. Sachin Tendulkar (32 not out) scored the winning runs, pulling Ontong to the mid-wicket boundary for four.
South Africa were the first team in over 13 years to win a test series on Indian soil on their last tour in 2000. Pollock became the fifth player to complete the double of 3,000 runs and 300 wickets in Tests, joining an elite list of all-rounders including Kapil, Pakistan's Imran Khan, New Zealander Sir Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham of England.
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 305 (J.H. Kallis 121, J.A. Rudolph 61).
INDIA (1st Innings) 411 (V. Sehwag 88, R. Dravid 80; M. Ntini 4-112).
SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings, overnight 172-5):
G.C. Smith c Laxman b Harbhajan 71
A.J. Hall c Karthik b Harbhajan 21
J.A. Rudolph lbw b Harbhajan 3
J.H. Kallis c & b Harbhajan 55
H.M. Amla c Laxman b Harbhajan 2
H.H. Dippenaar c Sehwag b Kumble 2
Z. de Bruyn not out 32
S.M. Pollock c Gambhir b Harbhajan 6
J.L. Ontong c Karthik b Harbhajan 0
T.L. Tsolekile b Kumble 1
M. Ntini c Dravid b Kumble 12
EXTRAS (B-12 LB-2 NB-3) 17
TOTAL (all out, 74.4 overs) 222
FALL OF WKTS: 1-77, 2-81, 3-126, 4-138, 5-147, 6-183, 7-193, 8-193, 9-194.
BOWLING: Irfan Pathan 5-1-17-0; Zaheer Khan 5-0-22-0 (3nb); Kumble 34.4-7-82-3; Harbhajan Singh 30-3-87-7.
INDIA (2nd Innings):
V. Sehwag c Smith b Ntini 10
G. Gambhir lbw b Rudolph 26
R. Dravid not out 47
S.R. Tendulkar not out 32
EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-4) 5
TOTAL (two wkts, 39.4 overs) 120
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-60.
BOWLING: Pollock 7-1-22-0 (2nb); Ntini 4-0-11-1; Ontong 10.4-1-44-0 (2nb); Rudolph 8-1-24-1; Smith 7-1-16-0; Hall 3-2-2-0.
UMPIRES: D.J. Harper and S.J.A. Taufel (both Australia).
TV UMPIRE: I. Sivaram (India).
MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Harbhajan Singh.
MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Virender Sehwag. -Reuters
LAXMAN AXED
Middle-order batsman Vangipurappu Laxman has been left out of India's 15-player squad named on Thursday for a one-day series in Bangladesh this month. Laxman, who is in the squad for the two-Test series against Bangladesh, has struggled in the last three one-day tournaments and was replaced by in-form Punjab left-hander Dinesh Mongia.
ONE-DAY SQUAD: Saurav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Murali Kartik, Dinesh Mongia, Sridharan Sriram, Joginder Sharma.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.