Team India came on South African shores in the hopes of ending their series win drought here this year but three days into the first competition, they were given a reality check by the home team as they registered a thumping innings win in the Boxing Day Test on Thursday.
After posting 408 runs on the board to take a 163-run first innings lead, thanks mainly to stand-in captain Dean Elgar's 185, the Proteas then went about dismantling the flamboyant batting lineup one by one at the SuperSport Park on the third day.
Batting failure leads to worst-ever loss in SA
Elgar's Indian counterpart Rohit Sharma flopped again along with the rest of the batters, barring Virat Kohli, as the entire unit got bowled out for just 131 after spending over 108 overs on the field trying to stop the South African run-flow.
The heavy defeat is India's worst on South African soil in Test cricket history and it made fans very angry on social media as they called out the team's meek surrender in Centurion inside three days.
Most questioned India's team selection for this Test while others blamed the poor batting and some even slammed the bowlers for the "sad and embarrassing" defeat.
Fans react on India's defeat
Few positives from Centurion Test
The only positives from this Test match were the knocks played by KL Rahul (101 in 1st innings), Virat Kohli (76 in 2nd innings) and Jasprit Bumrah's four-wicket haul with the ball in South Africa's only innings.
Just three individual performances were never going to win India the match even though the hosts had an inexperienced lineup with 10 players as their captain Temba Bavuma was ruled out during the very first day of the match.
Team India can now only hope to save face by fighting back in the second and final Test at Newlands in Cape Town so that they can return home having shared the Gandhi-Mandela trophy.
