Scorecard

India beat South Africa by eight wickets in the second Test in Kolkata on Thursday to win the two-Test series 1-0.

Set a target of 117 for victory in the second innings after bowling out South Africa for 222, India cruised home, losing the wickets of openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were unbeaten on 47 and 32 respectively when victory came.

Earlier, Anil Kumble equalled Kapil Dev's record of 434 wickets in Test cricket and Harbhajan Singh grabbed 7 for 87 in South Africa's second innings to be adjudged man of the match.

Sehwag was declared man of the series.

Morning session

Harbhajan gave India the perfect start on day 5 when he claimed the wicket of Jacques Kallis. It was his 15th five-wicket haul in Test cricket, the first against South Africa and fourth at the Eden Gardens.

Kallis (55), who added just four to his overnight total, was beaten in the air and off the pitch with a superb flighted delivery from the off-spinner. The leading edge popped to the bowler for the simplest of caught and bowled chances. (183 for 6)

That brought Shaun Pollock to the wicket. The former South Africa captain is known to be a stroke player, but today was not his day. Harbhajan accounted for his wicket as well, but not before the all-rounder became only the fifth cricketer to complete the double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets.

The ball pitched outside the off stump and turned into Pollock, who tried to defend on the front foot. It hit the pad, clipped the arm-pit and popped up on the leg-side. Gautam Gambhir, at short-leg, dived forward and got his fingers under the ball. Umpire Harper was convinced and Pollock was back in the pavilion after scoring just 6. (193 for 7)

Replays showed that the ball may have bounced just before it reached Gambhir, but it was hard to tell.

Harbhajan struck another blow in the same over when Justin Ontong (0), the new batsman, was caught by wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik after he mis-hit an attempted sweep shot. (193 for 8)

Anil Kumble claimed another wicket in the next over by rattling Thami Tsolekile's (1) castle. (194 for 9)

At this point, it looked like the visitors would capitulate quickly. South Africa were already ahead by 88 runs. The highest run chase at the Eden Gardens was in 1992-93, when India chased down 82 for 2 against England.

Makhaya Ntini and Zander De Bruyn put 28 vital runs for the last-wicket before Ntini became Kumble's 434th victim in Test cricket.

The ball was slightly short and Ntini (28), on the back foot, went for the drive. The ball turned just enough to defeat his purpose and the edge went straight to Rahul Dravid at first slip.

South Africa were all out for 222. India needed 117 runs to win the match and the series. De Bruyn was left stranded on a superb 32 off 72 balls.

Harbhajan ended up with seven wickets for 87 runs, the best ever bowling figures by an Indian bowler against South Africa. He and Kumble claimed all the South African wickets.

India second innings

The chase would not be easy; the Indians knew it as did the South Africans, as the pitch had deteriorated completely. But the Indian batsmen had to be positive in the middle. Each ball had to be played on merit.

The South African coach had earlier spoken about Sehwag's weakness against short deliveries and how his bowlers would look to exploit that chink in the right-hander's armour.

True to his word, Ntini got the vital wicket in exactly that manner. A short delivery pitched outside the off stump and angled into the batsman. Sehwag (10) tried to defend it on the back foot, but only got an edge that went straight to Graeme Smith at first slip and Ntini got the much-needed breakthrough. (15 for 1)

Dravid walked in next and one hoped that he would have some positive thoughts in his mid. His 80 in the first innings took 40 overs.

Gambhir and Dravid survived the session and even punished Ontong to the tune of 12 runs in the one over he bowled.

At lunch on day 5, India were 36 for the loss of Sehwag's wicket. Gambhir was on 16 and Dravid on 9.

Post-lunch session

Victory was in sight; the only question that remained was how long India would take to achieve it. Gambhir showed just before lunch that he was eager to take on the bowlers and he continued in the same vein.

Graeme Smith realised that his pacemen would not be able to achieve a breakthrough. The 23-year-old turned to his mixture of part-time spinners in Justin Ontong, Jacques Rudolph and himself to do the next-to-impossible job of trying to bowl out the Indians.

One of the them, Rudolph, did well to take the wicket of Gambhir, who was trapped leg-before while padding up to a delivery that sharply turned into him. Gambhir was gone after scoring 26 and India were reduced to 60 for 2.

There were still a few nerves in the Indian camp but they were dispelled by Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid. Both played with a calm assurance.

As India neared the target, a few smiles began to crease across their faces. Perhaps, for the first time in five days they really were sure of victory.

India won the match by eight wickets and with it the two-Test series. Dravid and Tendulkar were unbeaten on 47 and 32 respectively.

In the end, it turned out to be an easy victory for India. But in the joy of triumph one must not forget that this team definitely has some problems in the middle-order. The one abiding memory of this Test will be the morning session of day 4 when India scored only 52 runs in 28 overs.

This was a South African team that with the exception of Kallis, Pollock, Ntini and skipper Smith lacked quality players. India, in all fairness, should have won the series easily but they struggled. And in that lies the crux of the matter.