With all due respect to the current Proteas unit, this has been the least strongest of the South African sides to have hosted India. Yet, India will have to wait for their maiden Test series win on South African shores.

Under pressure right from the very first hour of this opening Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion, what followed was abject surrender on the part of India as South Africa thrashed them by an innings and 32 runs on Day III to take an unbeatable 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

South Africa were a batsman short in this Test as captain Temba Bavuma couldn’t take the field after a left hamstring strain. Yet, they could manage 408 in reply to India’s first-innings total of 245 and that too, on a surface that did have a fair amount of purchase for the quicks.

Conceding a 163-run lead, India’s batting in their second essay was worse. The South African quicks, especially Nandre Burger (4/33), Kagiso Rabada (2/23) and to an extent, Marco Jansen (3/36), showed which areas their Indian counterparts needed to hit on that surface.

Virat Kohli bats during the third day of the first Test cricket match between India and South Africa, at SuperSport Park Stadium, in Centurion, on Thursday. PTI photo

The much-vaunted Indian batting line-up came a cropper against the awkward bounce and movement the Proteas quicks were able to effect. Yes, Virat Kohli finished with a stroke-filled 76, cashing in on the freebies that the likes of Jansen and Gerald Coetzee, in particular, dished out during Thursday’s post-lunch and final sessions.

But that aside, it was another disastrous show with the bat from India which was reminiscent of the harrowing time the Indian teams of the 90s used to have in pacer-friendly conditions.

Rohit Sharma once again fell to his nemesis Rabada, who on this occasion managed to straighten the ball after pitching it on the middle-and-off-stump and cleaned up the India captain. Debutant Burger, who had dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first innings too, showed this time that the left-hander needs to work on tackling extra bounce as well.

Jansen, having complemented Dean Elgar (185) earlier in the day with an unbeaten 84, pointed out Shubman Gill’s serious problem in tackling deliveries that dart in.

India’s defeat, thereafter, was inevitable when Burger angled the ball just a bit away to induce a false shot from first-innings centurion KL Rahul before removing a clueless Ravichandran Ashwin off the next delivery.

This was truly India's best chance to win their maiden Test series in South Africa. But their batters and bowlers messed it up.