Temba Bavuma's group of Proteas heroes end 25 years of hurt in India

Yesterday morning, at precisely 9.05am South African time, the Proteas demolished an empire. An empire that, at its zenith, seemed like it would last forever.

Previous generations had endured the hurt and trauma for 25 years, but India’s walls finally came tumbling down in spectacular fashion in Guwahati.

The Proteas won the second Test by a mammoth 408 runs and completed a clean sweep of the series 2-0. The Freedom Cup was theirs to display alongside the golden ICC World Test Championship mace.

“Coming to India is always a tough prospect,” Proteas captain Temba Bavuma said. “I think what makes it sweeter is the fact that we are winning because we’ve been on the other side of the result from past tours. We know how dark it can be.

“So, you know, coming here, I would have never thought 2-0 would be the result of the series, but I think it's an incredible achievement for the group of players.”

The last Proteas group to have conquered India contained verified legends of South African cricket: Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Allan Donald and Gary Kirsten.

These were heroes to the likes of Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Simon Harmer, Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Marco Jansen and Tristan Stubbs, despite the latter duo not having even been born yet in 2000, who have now matched the feat.

“I think the team now is really in a good space,” the skipper said. “I think winning obviously does that, but I think it's the way that we're going about winning our games.

“From a batting point of view, we don't have the guys who are going in and getting the big hundreds, but we've got four, five or six guys who are willing to contribute, which gets us to a formidable score.

“We know that from a bowling point of view, we've got enough to make sure that the result is on our side. It's good times at the moment within the team. I think we'll enjoy the moment.”

One of the key features of the Proteas’ success on this Indian tour was the performance of their spinners. It is not often that India are undone on their own surfaces by opposition tweakers.

Harmer led the way with 17 wickets at an average of just over eight, but the support offered by Keshav Maharaj, Senuran Muthusamy and even Aiden Markram’s golden arm was instrumental in achieving success.

“I think Simon, obviously, has come in and heavily boosted our resources from a spin point of view.

“As a team, over the years, we have relied heavily on Keshav Maharaj.

“I think the way Simon came in and did what he had to do, and was also supported by the other guys, Aiden Markram and Muthusamy, getting that breakthrough for us.

“I've always said this: our bowling has always been a strength of ours. And again, the way the guys have stepped up, even though we didn't have our main bowler, Kagiso Rabada, was incredible.”