South Africa handed India a crushing 408-run defeat to sweep the two-Test series 2-0, sealing one of their most dominant performances in recent years and inflicting on India consecutive home Test series losses for the first time in more than four decades.

Set an improbable target and resuming at 90 for 5 at tea on the final day, India still required 459 runs for victory on a turning, uneven red-soil surface. The task proved insurmountable. India were eventually bowled out for 140 late in the day, despite a gritty half-century from Ravindra Jadeja that only delayed the inevitable.

South Africa had earlier piled up 489 in their first innings after recovering from 247 for 6 through a crucial stand between Senuran Muthusamy and Marco Jansen. They then declared their second innings at 260 for 5, opting against enforcing the follow-on but batting India completely out of the match.

India’s reply in the first innings was dismantled for 201, with Jansen exploiting the bounce to run through the middle order.

India’s resistance on the final day was brief and fragmented. They crawled to 50 in 28.3 overs and were 58 for 4 at the first drinks break. At tea, Jadeja and Sai Sudharsan were attempting damage control at 90 for 5. India crossed 100 only in the 49th over, underscoring their struggle on the deteriorating track.

Post-tea, Muthusamy struck the first blow by removing Sudharsan for 14, with Aiden Markram completing his eighth catch of the match. Simon Harmer, who had dented India late on day 4 with the dismissal of KL Rahul, resumed his mastery to claim a five-wicket haul. He picked off Washington Sundar, then trapped Nitish Kumar Reddy for a duck, tightening South Africa’s grip with relentless accuracy.

Keshav Maharaj added to India’s misery, first stumping Jadeja for a hard-earned 54 off 78 balls, which included four boundaries and two sixes. He then delivered the final strike when Mohammed Siraj attempted a desperate lofted stroke, only for Marco Jansen to sprint back and pull off a spectacular one-handed catch, sealing India’s innings at 140 and the visitors' mammoth victory.

The 408-run triumph is South Africa’s second-largest win in Tests by runs, surpassed only by their 492-run victory over Australia in Johannesburg in 2018. It also marks their second Test series win on Indian soil, the previous one coming 25 years ago in 2000 under Hansie Cronje. With this result, Temba Bavuma joins Cronje as only the second South African captain to win a Test series in India, preserving his unbeaten record as skipper.

South Africa controlled the contest from the moment Muthusamy and Jansen rescued the first innings on day 2. Their lower-order revival, followed by disciplined and incisive bowling across both innings, exposed India’s frailties on a surface that required application and patience. While their second-innings scoring was scrutinised for an apparent effort to take Tristan Stubbs toward a century, the strategy still left India with an impossible task.

For India, the defeat is part of a concerning pattern. After a 0-3 loss at home to New Zealand last year, the 0-2 result against South Africa marks India’s second straight home series loss — a rarity in modern Indian cricket. Since their 0-2 home defeat to South Africa in 2000, India had lost only two home Test series, to Australia in 2004 and England in 2012, until the New Zealand setback last year.

The last instance of India losing home Test series in consecutive years dates back over 40 years, when defeats to the West Indies in 1983 and England in 1984-85 shook Indian cricket during a period of transition.

South Africa, meanwhile, depart with a dominant 2-0 victory and renewed confidence, having outplayed India in all departments across both Tests.