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Kolkata: A splendid 8-wicket haul by Harbhajan Singh helped India beat South Africa by an innings and 57 runs in the second Test to level the 2-match series 1-1 and retain their No.1 Test ranking at the Eden Gardens.
Hashim Amla, who made 114 in the first innings, remained unbeaten on 127 runs but could not deny India a victory on Thursday.
Earlier at tea, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh took three wickets in a sensational 13-over spell, with eight maidens and conceding just nine runs, to leave South Africa struggling at 250/7.
Harbhajan dismissed overnight batsman Ashwell Prince for 23, JP Duminy for six and Dale Steyn for one in a spell that destroyed South Africa's middle-order after the tourists resumed on 115/3.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra took his third wicket of the innings when he had AB de Villiers lbw for three just before lunch.
Indian spearhead Zaheer Khan did not take the field in the morning after straining his quadricep on the fourth day when only 34.1 overs had been possible due to rain and bad light.
The overnight pair of Amla and Prince stuck out 26.4 overs before Harbhajan struck when the off-spinner had Prince playing loosely to be caught at mid-off.
Mishra had de Villiers leg before with a googly and Harbhajan fired out left-hander Duminy and Steyn leg before in quick succession after lunch.
To be fair enough to both teams, South Africa dominated only 2 sessions in this match. India played 4 good days of Test cricket, with the fourth day washed out due to rain. But South Africa, competing hard, went down fighting hard, losing by an innings and 58 runs, but most importantly, they batted out time.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, the Proteas lost Smith early but made a good recovery to be 228/1 but then, a collapse saw them bowled out for 296. Amla and Petersen scored centuries, but none of the other batsmen could play well. Zaheer Khan livened things up with 4/90.
In reply, India declared at 643/6, with centuries from Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman and Dhoni, Sehwag leading the pack with 165 runs. The South African bowling suffered at his hands. India declared on day 3, and things were not looking too good for the visitors yesterday, but bad weather intervened and the Proteas had a bit of a hope with 7 wickets in the bank today.
They batted grittily and saw off the first two hours, but after that, wickets started falling and at one stage, it seemed as if play will finish by tea. But the tourists hung on and in the end, fell short by just 15 minutes as Harbhajan's five-for saw India winning the game with good support from Mishra.
Hashim Amla was the lone man standing between India and victory and he stayed unbeaten in the end, with a brilliant 127 but even that fell short by 15 minutes!
Hashim Amla gets the best batsman of the match award for scoring centuries in both the innings. He also named the man-of-the-match and series for scoring 489 runs in the series with an average of 489.
Indian skipper MS Dhoni and VVS Laxman share the best partnership of the match award.
Brief scores
South Africa: 296 (Amla 114, Petersen 100, Zaheer 4-90, Harbhajan 3-64) and 290 (Amla 123*, Harbhajan 5-59, Mishra 3-78)
India: 643 for 6 dec (Sehwag 165, Laxman 143*, Dhoni 132*, Tendulkar 106)
Result: India won by an innings and 57 runs
MOM: Hashim Amla (South Africa)
Man of the series: Hashim Amla (South Africa)
