The in-form off-spinner Harbhajan Singh again showed his growing maturity in this series by opening the bowling and finishing with 4-44 from 23 overs for seven wickets in the match and 19 in the series to earn the man of the series award.

Proteas skipper Graeme Smith top scored with 35 but after his departure the team capitulated to lose their last six wickets for just 31 runs. Part-time off-spinner Virender Sehwag claimed 3-12.

Wasim Jaffer (lbw to Morne Morkel for 10) and Sehwag (caught off Paul Harris for 22) were out before Sourav Ganguly (13 not out) and Rahul Dravid (18 not out) chipped away at the total as India finished 64-2 in 13.1 overs when Dravid won the match with a paddled four to fine leg off Harris.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, standing in as skipper for groin injury victim Anil Kukble, paid tribute to Harbhajan and Sehwag for taking the wickets that turned the match around on a pitch offering assistance to the slower bowlers.

"The way Harbhajan and Viru bowled, it was just a matter of time. There were no easy singles on offer, so we put a lot of pressure on them," Dhoni said.

He added: "It's pretty hard to replace a man like Kumble, especially on such a wicket. Had he been playing, I don't think this would have lasted three days."

Smith also referred to the wicket as one of the factors in the result but admitted his team fell short of their recent high standards. 

"When you are playing on a wicket like this, the margins are very small. We let ourselves down slightly," Smith admitted to reporters afterwards.

He added: "We were 30 runs short in the first innings, we lost our way with our batting. And also India getting a lead like that, those were the two big swinging points in the Test match.

"We were also not as good with the ball as we had been in the series. We were a little bit too anxious to bowl India out."

Despite the disappointment Smith reflected on the many positives in a season that began with an away series victory in Pakistan, home series wins against New Zealand and West Indies and then a series win in Bangladesh.

"From our point of view, we would obviously have loved to win the series, but we've played some terrific cricket so far in this season," Smith said.

South Africa, who won the second Test in Ahmedabad by an innings also inside three days, were eyeing a series win that would have sealed their status as the second-best Test team in the world behind world champions Australia.

India’s players were heavily criticised after the second Test defeat by former players, especially Sunil Gavaskar who suggested they were distracted by off-field commitments relating to the upcoming lucrative Indian Premier League.