Dale Steyn’s wicket of Virat Kohli was his 200th at home. He became the third South African, after Mkhaya Ntini (249) and Shaun Pollock (235) to reach the 200-wicket mark on home soil.
Dale Steyn’s wicket of Ishant Sharma was his 350th in Test cricket. Steyn is the quickest to reach this milestone in terms of balls bowled. Pakistan’s Waqar Younus held the previous record.
Ajinkya Rahane (96) made his highest Test score, surpassing his unbeaten 51 in the first innings of this Test.
Dale Steyn ended the year 2013 with 51 wickets against his name – the third time he has taken 50 or more wickets in a calendar year. He had taken 74 wickets in 2008 and 60 wickets in 2010.
Steyn has now equaled Mkhaya Ntini’s South African record of taking 50 wickets in a calendar year on 3 occasions.
Alviro Petersen and Graeme Smith became the first South African opening pair to put on 50 runs or more in both innings of a Test against India at home. Interestingly this feat has been achieved by a South African opening pair in India on 3 occasions.
This win was South Africa’s first at Durban after four consecutive defeats.
India suffered their third consecutive series defeat outside India. They had lost to England 4-0 in 2011 and then to Australia also 4-0 in 2011-12.
India have now not registered a win in their last 12 overseas Tests. They have lost nine and drawn three.
In 21 overseas Tests in which MS Dhoni has captained India, he has won five, lost 10 and drawn remaining six (win percentage of 23.80). In contrast, Dhoni has won 21 Tests, lost three and drawn six out of 30 home Tests (win percentage of 70.00).
The win was South Africa’s sixth under Graeme Smith against India. He now holds the South African record of winning most Tests as captain against India. He was earlier at level with Hansie Cronje with five wins.
The win was Graeme Smith’s 29th at home. With this he has equaled Ricky Ponting’s record of winning most Tests as captain at home.
The defeat means India have not yet beaten South Africa in a Test series in South Africa.
