South Africa bowled out for 185 and suffer 124-run defeat

Nagpur - The Proteas, who resumed at 32-2 chasing a target of 310, folded up for 185 in their second innings after tea on the third day on a dusty, deteriorating pitch at the VCA stadium in Nagpur.

 Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 12 wickets in the match as India swamped South Africa by 124 runs with two days to spare in the third Test on Friday to clinch the series.
The Proteas, who resumed at 32-2 chasing a target of 310, folded up for 185 in their second innings after tea on the third day on a dusty, deteriorating pitch at the VCA stadium in Nagpur.
Off-spinner Ashwin followed his 5-32 in the first innings with 7-66 in the second to take his tally in the series to 24 wickets in five innings so far. India had won the first Test in Mohali by 108 runs, while the second in Bangalore was washed out by rain after the opening day's play.
The fourth and final Test will be played at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in New Delhi from December 3, with the hosts firm favourites to complete a 3-0 scoreline. Proteas captain Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis put on the highest partnership in the Test of 72 runs, scoring 39 apiece, but no other batsman touched 20. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra removed both batsmen in the space of six deliveries just before tea, ending the resistance by the flat-footed tourists against the turning ball. India have now won eight of their last nine Tests on home soil - all inside three days - having routed Australia 4-0 and the West Indies 2-0 in 2013 before taking the first and third Tests in the current series.
The winning sequence was broken only by the drawn rain-hit Bangalore Test. The defeat marked top-ranked South Africa's first series loss abroad in nine years after the 2-0 setback in Sri Lanka in 2006. Indian captain Virat Kohli hailed Ashwin as the best spinner in the world and said he was pleased to win the series against the number one side in the world.
"Ashwin is a world-class spinner, probably the best in the world at the moment," said Kohli. "He is a very improved bowler and stepped up for us in a big way in this series. "It is very pleasing to defeat South Africa, especially since they won both the Twenty20 and one-day series earlier. We played some very good cricket in all the three Tests." Kohli said his team was not bothered by the criticism over the Nagpur wicket, adding it was more important to perform well in difficult conditions.
"It was a challenging wicket, but our batsmen showed character to put runs on the board," he said. "You have to create chances when you get conditions which are going to be bowler-friendly.
"Spinners obviously had an upper hand in the series, but sealing the series by playing well was more important for us."