South Africa vs India, 3rd Test at Cape Town, SA v IND, Jan 11 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

That brings us to the end of our coverage. Elgar & co collect the trophy to celebrate. It's been a riveting series! Remember, the tour isn't over. There's a three-match ODI series to come, with the opening game on January 19 in Paarl. Hope you can join us for that.

Meanwhile, we've got some post-match content for you to chew on. Do watch out for pieces from Karthik Krishnaswamy and Firdose Moonda. Look forward to your company again very soon. Until then, this is Shashank Kishore and Saurabh Somani signing off on behalf of the rest of our crew: Chandan Duroah, Hemant Brar and Vishal Dikshit. Many thanks once again. Cheers

It's time for the presentation

Keegan Petersen is the Player of the Match & Player of the series.

Petersen: I don't know how I feel, it hasn't sunk in yet. Happy, emotional but just grateful to have had the opportunity. I took every little positive I can from every innings and build on that. It's been a tough journey, not easy. Have had to stick to my guns and fight it out. It's been a long journey, can't really tell the whole story right now. It's not been easy even coming into Tests; challenging wickets, changing conditions, have had to deal with what has been in front of me. We've always had to tough it out against a high-quality bowling attack, high-quality team. Just spending time at the wicket is crucial. Evident longer you bat, easier it gets. I enjoyed every moment of it.

Elgar on Petersen: "He's dominated domestic cricket, awesome to see him have a great series. Long may he grow, there's lot of improvement from his point of view. World is his oyster. Even though he's someone older, he's winning to learn. He's a proper character within that team environment. Proud of what he has achieved."

Dean Elgar: Pretty elated, I think it will sink in in a day or two, maybe this evening. Couldn't be prouder of the group. The guys responded brilliantly. After the first loss, had a lot of hope knowing we can still win this. Asked the players to respond in a better nature, better way and they responded brilliantly. Extremely happy. Challenging your players within the group, need character to stand up. The way our bowling unit delivered throughout the series is brilliant. I threw down the challenge after the first game and the guys responded brilliantly. Got a young, talented group. Every day in this environment, we're gaining this experience. Unreal to see how a group that doesn't have the repertoire or names can gel together as one. Extremely proud of this group. If you want to operate at a high performance level, have to have tough chats. If guys don't like it, it's up to them to deal with. I've got old-school mentality with new-school twist. Laid down challenges to senior players as well, great to see them take it on board and deliver. Would like to think I gave us the best message for us to go out and perform. Us as a close group, we've been hurting a little bit and it's something for us to feed off. We played as a unit, if you can do that, if you have guys moving away, it's challenge to pull them in. I think as a unit, we've grown massively over the last two Tests. I'm already thinking of the next series. Lot of positives, but in order to grow, need to curb the challenges we have.

Virat Kohli: It's a great spectacle of Tests for everyone to watch; hard-fought series. Great first game but SA did amazingly well. In both Tests they won, they were clinical with the ball in crunch moments. Lapse of concentration cost us key moments and they seized those moments; absolutely deserving winners in the end. As I said, one of the challenges we've faced touring abroad is make sure capitalising on momentum, when we've done that we've won Tests away from home. When we haven't, they've cost us quite bad. Have had a few collapses that have cost us important moments and Test matches. It's batting; can't pin-point any other aspect. People talk about pace and bounce, considering their heights, they were able to get much more off the wickets in all three Tests. They applied pressure long enough for us to make mistakes. It's the understanding of conditions for them which they know very well. The batting has to be looked into, no running away from that. Having collapses every now and then not a good thing. Obviously very disappointed, we know how far we've come as a team. That people expect us to beat SA in SA is testimony to how far we've come. We haven't done it, that's the reality, accept it and come back as better cricketers. Got to credit the opposition where due. I think the way KL batted as an opener was heartening, Mayank got stuck in on a couple of occasions, bowling was outstanding, few crucial knocks from the guys in the middle period, Rishabh's knock in this Test was special, Centurion win was special too. Take the positives and move ahead, come back as better cricketers.

1.50pm: Sampath has this stat for us on India losing series after winning the first Test. It's a rare occurence:

vs England, 1984/85 (home)

vs South Africa, 2006/07 (away)

vs England, 2012/13 (home)

vs South Africa, 2021/22 (away)

Callum: "Would like to make sure Bavuma gets some acknowledgment for his performances, 2 50s and 3 times not out, made a contribution in every innings."

Prasanna S: "Lots of positives for SA, Petersen in batting, Jansen who has been a revelation with the ball. They had been lead by a gritty captain who lead from the front. Well deserved win !!"

Shahid Ali: "This series result is similar to India's Last Year Tour of Australia. India were down and out after the first test but still managed to win series. same goes for South Africa in this series. brilliantly fought series win. "

1.48pm: Elsewhere, India's hosting the women's Asian Cup football, starting next week. The team made history last year by scoring against Brazil. Can they do more of the same when they fight for the continent's top prize? Meet the 23 women looking to make that dream a reality.

1.45pm: There's been some heat in this series, but both sides perfectly tranquil while shaking hands with each other. South Africa wreathed in smiles. India, understandably, not.

Gopal: "Batting was the difference between the sides. Peterson , take a bow!" --- possibly Gopal. The bowling attacks were both outstanding.

muthut: "the joke is now on QDK, who hurriedly quit test cricket after the one-sided loss in Centurion! who would've thunk that SA would make two consecutive 4th-innings chases without him!!"

1.42pm: What an incredible series win for South Africa. They'll cherish this for a long time. They looked down and out for the count after the first Test when India stormed to victory. India had come to a South Africa tour as favourites for the first time, and had strengthened that after the first Test. Then Johannesburg happened, with Dean Elgar helming a fourth innings chase that took them level. Even there, the target was steep and India would have been fancied to win. Lightning struck twice with another fourth innings chase at Cape Town. Keegan Petersen and Marco Jansen have been the finds of the tour for South Africa. India have been into the contest all through, but will have to lick their wounds and ponder their options.

Martin: "Maybe the SA bowling attack does not get the credit it's due?. Without Nortje and we restrict mighty India to small totals 6 times in a row. " --- indeed, it's been an outstanding performance.

Dave: "The SA bowlers did well to keep this India batting class under control. I'd say one of the bowlers for player of the series."

ankur baid: "Petersen for player of the match and series. No one deserves it more than him."

Neil: "Why has India not started with Bumrah/Shami post lunch? Would've been the only way back in the game..." --- I agree. I thought they'd be the ones starting. Maybe a niggle or two.

Akash Mehra: "It's a bit disappointing to lose the series from the way we started, but kudos to SA for playing great cricket. Mostly our batting was disappointing, almost no one is consistent these days and that's where we lost, not enough runs on the board. "