India Vs South Africa: Records tumble as Virat Kohli-led side wins ODI series in Rainbow Nation

Port Elizabeth, Feb 14: Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team scripted history by becoming the first-ever men's team to claim a series on South African soil by taking an unassailable 4-1 lead in the six-match ODI series here on Tuesday (February 13).

The Men In Blue defeated Proteas by 73 runs in the fourth ODI, thanks to some clinical performance by the spinners after Rohit Sharma notched up a superb century.

This Indian side has broken a jinx of 25-years as no Indian men's side, since its first tour in South Africa back in 1992, has ever won a series across any format. They had won a T20I series against the Proteas way back in 2006, but it was a one-off match.

With this win, Team India also reached the top of the ODI rankings as they unseated South Africa from the top of the table.

The Kohli-led side achieved which the likes of Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid or Mahendra Singh Dhoni could ever accomplish i.e. win a full-fledged series in the Rainbow Nation.

For Kohli, this is a significant milestone in his three and half years at the helm as this is also his first series win against a top nation on their soil.

Here a few stats and records created by Team India after they won the 5th ODI:

South Africa touch a new low at home:

This is South Africa's worst ODI series defeat since 2002 after going down 1-5 against Australia. South Africa have so far played 25 ODI series at home and lost just three, including this one.

This series has witnessed South Africa's worst performance with the bat, as well as with the ball, in any bilateral series at home. The Proteas averaged 22.65 with the bat and 50.20 with the ball.

Chahal-Kuldeep, the wreakers in chief for India:

This series has been clearly dominated by the Indian-spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who emerged as the bane of the Protea batsmen.

Kuldeep picked up 16 wickets at an average of 11.56, and Chahal took 14 wickets at 16.00. Together these two picked up 30 wickets, most by India spinners in any bilateral series. The previous best performance recorded by Indian spinners was against England in 2005-06 series. The Indian spinners picked up 27 wickets in that home series.

Kohli becomes 2nd Asian Captain to win a series in SA

Virat Kohli also became the second Asian captain after Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq to claim an ODI series in South Africa. The former Pakistan batsman had led his team to a 2-1 win against the Proteas in November 2013.

Kohli is yet to lose an ODI series under his captaincy ever since he took over the team's reigns from MS Dhoni.

Ninth successive ODI bilateral series win for India

With this win against South Africa, Team India have maintained their dominance in the 50-overs format. The Men In Blue have now won nine ODI bilateral series on the trot, starting from the series win against Zimbabwe in 2016.

They have now surpassed Australia's record of eight successive wins (between April 2009 and June 2010). The Kohli-led side is now behind West Indies, who are on top of the list with 14 consecutive wins, which they managed between 1980 and 1988.

Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma run out saga continues

They are the best Indian batsmen in the limited-overs at the moment and put up several big partnerships but the duo has also had a history of getting involved in run outs.

Together this pair has been involved in run outs on seven occasions which cost one of their wickets.

Overall, Rohit has been involved in 27 run outs, so far. He has been dismissed 12 times while his partner has been dismissed on 15 occasions.

Kohli, on the other hand, has been involved in 26 run outs (12 self and 14 partners).

400-plus runs in a bilateral series for Kohli

This is the first bilateral series when Virat Kohli has aggregated 400-plus runs. He's second after Rohit Sharma (491 in 2013-14 Vs Australia, 441 in 2015-16 Vs Australia) to have amassed 400-plus runs in a series.

Kohli is only the second captain to have scored 400-plus runs as a skipper.

The right-handed batsman has so far slammed two centuries in the series and has troubled the bowlers.