The recently-concluded India-South Africa Test series was Virat Kohli's second full series as captain and the Delhi lad has once again delivered the goods from the front with a commanding win against the Proteas, which helped his team climb to second spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test ranking.
It is a huge achievement for the men in blue as they defeated the top ranked side of the world – South Africa -- to attain second position. The visitors, who had won the T20 and ODI series, could not deliver the goods in white clothing.
India, who had emerged victorious in Mohali and Nagpur in the first and third Test respectively, could not have defeated South Africa in the fourth Test match had Ajinkya Rahane not scored a century in both the innings. Rahane was awarded the man of the match for his stupendous performance on Monday.
If Rahane was the hero of the day, India's spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was the best player for India in the series, troubled the South Africa batsmen with his spin variety.
Ashwin came up with a consistent bowling performance, which helped him take 31 wickets. Such performance saw Ashwin bag the Man of the series as well. Ravindra Jadeja, who played an important role as the second spinner in the team, finished with 23 wickets.
With India winning the series, 3-0, they attained 10 points and are now just four points short of number one position. India have been a mighty team with Virat Kohli as captain not only in the recent home series, but also against Sri Lanka, who lost to the men in blue in August, which was Kohli's first full Test series as captain.
Latest ICC Test rankings
1 South Africa 114points
2 India 110
3 Australia 109
4 Pakistan 106
5 England 99
6 New Zealand 95
7 Sri Lanka 93
8 West Indies 76
9 Bangladesh 47
10 Zimbabwe 5
