South Africa win to give Kallis perfect send-off
South Africa overpowered India by ten wickets in Jacques Kallis' final Test to give one of the greatest of Test careers the perfect end
South Africa overpowered India by ten wickets in Jacques Kallis' final Test to give one of the greatest of Test careers the perfect end
Scorer: M Venkat Raghav | Commentator: Siddarth Ravindran
Presentation ceremony coming up: Haroon Lorgat among the presentation party.
MS Dhoni: "The first session was crucial, we didn't start well, a couple of bad decisions, tough decisions, a couple of bad shots. Overall, only a few of the top order had played more than five Tests outside the subcontinent, great experience for them to play the toughest side. I'm very happy with the performance, especially of the bowlers, without the luxury of an allrounder, they bowled to the plan that they had. They must have learnt a lot out of these two games, also that Test cricket is about all five days, you may play one bad session and that will have an imapct on the game itself.
Jacques Kallis has been a fantastic cricketer, doesn't talk much. Not just the runs he scored or the wickets he took, even the catches he took. He gave South Africa the luxury of playing an extra batsman. Youngsters will look up to him."
Graeme Smith: "An incredible win, considering the weather and that they were 180 for 1 on the first day. India always difficult, one of the teams we haven't beaten in a while. At Wanderers we were behind the game for 90% of the time... to see Dale bowling like that this morning, Robbie P four wickets today.
"Kallis .... he'll play a lot of golf now I know. We have enjoyed time in many, many dressing rooms. He's an outstanding human being, it's been a privilege to get to know him as a perso.
"The wicket didn't make it easy for us in Durban. It was almost as if we were playing in India, we fronted up superbly well."
Man of the Match is Dale Steyn: "I'm pretty stoked. Jacques sat us down on the second day and said he didn't want this game to end in a draw. Pretty proud of that (350 wickets), but it won't happen if I wasn't part of this incredible team I'm part of. Got to thank the team and everybody else. I'll remember the wicket of Pujara for a while, he's a good batsman as well."
Man of the Series is AB de Villiers: "I've been working hard on my keeping, getting tips from Bouchie on the side, mainly abusing me (laughs). I really enjoyed the keeping, and the Test win. I enjoyed all the criticism Steyn was getting in Jo'burg as I knew something was brewing in his system, a man for the big occasion.
"I consider myself very lucky to have played in Kallis' last Test, very special to walk around the ground and think of all those memories. He's been a rock to this team."
Time for Jacques Kallis to step up: "Tough call (to retire from Tests). It's been incredible, the way people have come out to support me, the way CSA and my team-mates have made it a special game. I still had the same butterflies ahead of this game, thanks to MS and the team for the guard of honour, I was glad I didn't face the next ball then.
"I've been fortunate to have had great coaches throughout the career, my friends and family have put up with me being away, will be nice to catch up with them. So many people to thank. Two of the most important people, who aren't there, so 'Mum, Dad I hope I've made you proud'."
Kallis signs off with emotional words to his parents, what a fantastic career he has had.
Great post from our reader, Etienne: "During the 18 Kallis years, I have: lived in 5 countries, worked in 2 more, bought 3 properties, sold 2, had 11 jobs in 5 different industries, failed at 5 relationships and published 3 short stories!"
South Africa revel in their victory, Jacques Kallis posing with the Test mace, the series trophy is in front of him, the rest of the team has T-shirts with a Kallis picture on it.
With that I'll sign off. Thanks for being with us through this short series, more evenly contested than we had initially thought, but the stronger side prevailed in the end. On behalf on Alagappan Muthu and the rest of ESPNcricinfo's staff, this is Siddarth Ravindran signing out. Happy new year, people!
3.25 pm The crowd is on their feet and hooting and Graeme Smith salutes them as he leads the men off the field. Do refresh the page and tune in to Match Point, where Sanjay Manjrekar and Daryll Cullinan are waiting to discuss the events of the final stretch of play and a lot more. India had a brief period - well it seems brief now, it was actually the whole first day - that they dominated, but after that South Africa took control of this game slowly but steadily and have given possibly their greatest cricketer the perfect send off. Dale Steyn stormed back into form as he reached 350 Test wickets and his performance this morning was absolute key to this match ending as soon as it has. India have acquitted themselves rather well on this tour but today would have been their biggest test, but they were undone by a brilliant burst from South Africa's fast bowlers. South Africa end the year as the No. 1 Test team in the world, India have found a couple of promising new batsmen to take them forward in the years to come and Jacques Kallis could not have wished for a better farewell. A 45th Test hundred, getting to third on the all-time run-getters list and a memorable victory to boot. Do stay with us for the presentation
Zuch: "Success comes in steps. Indian team has done enough to raise our hopes and expectations from them (remember what was said about them before the series?). In coming series they would prove their ability. SA shows why they are the boss of test cricket. And a big salute to King Kallis."
Marius: "@commentators: don't forget kallis 200+ catches, with all the other accolades ... ..."
Jacques: ""undone by a brilliant burst from South Africa's fast bowlers". Robbie P took 4 you know and made 60 with the bat. ;-) just want to make sure people notice that Rob is the obvious choice head of Tires."
Ayan: "At the end of First Test Smith said that Styen and Philander chose to draw the first test and said will win the second one for them. They sure did it very well Styen 9-wicket haul with 44 runs with bat and Philander with three wickets"
Kallis leads the team out to the presentation ceremony. Great scenes in Durban as Kallis is being chaired round the ground by Graeme Smith and Morne Morkel.
And here's what Smith tweeted a few minutes ago.
And this is Steyn's tweet.
Ali Malik: "Its so sad to see Kallis depart, but he is a true legend. Both with Bat and Ball and Fielding He has done SA great favors by winning matches and his record speaks for itself. True Ultimate Cricketer. Batsman : No 1 Bowler : In top 10 Slip Catcher: No 1 Fielder : Great Al round: Must be in any side"
Rohit Sharma now
Whether it's used in a series or not, the review system has had an irrevocable effect on Test cricket
Over a Test career that lasted 18 years, there were hardly any boxes that Jacques Kallis did not tick
Dale Steyn picked up three wickets - in the second innings - to help South Africa beat India by a convincing ten-wicket margin in Durban on Monday.
This 1-0 series defeat for India has in many ways exceeded the expectations off this young and inexperienced team, but MS Dhoni knows they had put themselves in positions to do much better
Jacques Kallis signs off his Test career content with his decision and relieved that he can return to something approaching an ordinary existence