South Africa Rewrite History! Win Test Series on Indian Soil After 25 Years

Udaipur, Nov 27, 2025: The nightmare haunting the Indian men's cricket team and its many fans finally culminated into the inevitable. Chasing a huge target of 549 runs set by South Africa in the Guwahati Test, India lost by a big margin. India ended the fourth day at 27 for 2 and were all out for just 140 runs on the fifth and final day. The result? A massive defeat by 408 runs.

Harmer Destroys India’s Batting Line-up

Sai Sudarshan also came in at number three and tried to stay at the crease. But his long fight ended at just 14 runs from 139 balls. India collapsed again, losing 8 wickets for 113 runs in only 48 overs on the final day.

Proteas spinner Simon Harmer delivered the biggest blow in India’s second innings. He broke India's batting order with brilliant figures of 6 for 37. Harmer finished the match with 9 wickets across both innings. His record in India is now even stronger — he has taken 27 wickets in just 4 Tests on Indian soil. With this, he has overtaken Dale Steyn to become South Africa’s highest wicket-taker in Tests played in India.

South Africa Seal Series 2–0

India had lost the first Test in Kolkata within three days, with many questions raised over the uneven bounce of the pitch. But South Africa dominated again in Guwahati, even on India’s traditional spin and batting-friendly surface. Harmer was named Player of the Series for taking the most wickets across the two Tests, while Marco Janssen earned Player of the Match for his 6-wicket haul in India’s first innings.

This was India’s biggest defeat in Test cricket in terms of runs. South Africa beat India 2-0 in the two-match series on Indian soil. The Proteas also won a Test series in India after 25 long years. Before this, South Africa last won a Test series in India in 2000 under Hansie Cronje. India have now lost five of their last seven home Tests.

India’s poor batting in the Guwahati Test was clear from one simple fact — India scored 67 runs less than South Africa’s winning margin across both innings (201 + 140 = 341 runs).

The record for the highest run chase in the fourth innings in Test cricket is 418. So, the target of 549 runs was almost impossible from the start. Only one Indian batter tried to fight, and that was Ravindra Jadeja. He scored a brave 54 runs off 87 balls.

Where does India stand wrt the World Test Championship

Having already played 9 of its 18 Test Matches, India stands on the fifth position in the Test ranking table. Australia and South Africa have played just 4 Tests each and have another 14 to go. Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who are also ahead of India, have just played 2 matches each and have a long way to go. India on fifth position, has 52 points and needs to do a whitewash of the other sides it plays in the remaining 9 matches to stay in contention. It also needs for the other teams to perform below par. The margin of error for India is near zero. The road to WTC has turned into a gully.

Summary of the Ind-SA Test Series 2025

South Africa: 489 and 260/5 declared

India: 201 and 140

(Jadeja 54, Sudarshan 14, Pant 13, Jaiswal 13; Harmer 6/37, Maharaj 2/37, Mutusamy 1/21)

Result: South Africa won by 408 runs

Man of the Match: Marco Janssen (South Africa)

Man of the Series: Simon Harmer (South Africa)

Series: South Africa won 2–0