Guwahati; India stand-in captain Rishabh Pant admitted his side had been thoroughly outplayed by South Africa after crashing to a 408-run loss and a 2-0 series loss, saying the side did not "capitalise as a team", which "cost us the series".
On day five, led by Simon Harmer’s 6-37, South Africa bowled out India for 140 and hand the hosts their biggest ever defeat in runs in Tests. This is South Africa’s second Test series win in India after their 2-0 sweep in February-March 2000 under Hansie Cronje.
“It's little disappointing. As a team we need to get batter. Credit to the opposition for playing better than us. They dominated the series but at the time you can't take cricket for granted. We're playing at home and sometimes we were up in the game but we didn't capitalise on them,” Pant said to broadcasters at the end of the game.
The wicketkeeper-batter also acknowledged that India had failed to seize key moments across the two Tests. The series defeat is also India's second home series loss in 12 months after losing 3-0 to New Zealand in 2024.
“We have to learn and get better - whether you're playing at home or away cricket which demands that determination and the extra effort. They played better cricket and demands that you need to capitalise as a team and we did not do that and that cost us the whole series. The positives from this series will be to focus on our own plan,” added Pant.
The defeat leaves India with various questions in terms of their make-up of the Test team and their approach towards playing red-ball cricket ahead of their next assignment, which is a two-match away tour of Sri Lanka set to happen next year.