Kagiso Rabada became the youngest South Africa bowler to take seven wickets in an innings as the hosts took charge of the fourth and final Test against England on Sunday.
India will enter the 11th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup in second spot behind leaders Australia.
South Africa are to gamble on the fitness of Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy, who were named on Wednesday in a 15-man squad for the Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next month.
Ravichandran Ashwin displayed his magic yet again to record career-best figures of 7 for 66 as India took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-Test series against South Africa after an emphatic 124-run victory in the third match in Nagpur on Friday.
Tillakaratne Dilshan outshone Hashim Amla's 14th One-Day International century to steer Sri Lanka to a series-levelling 87-run win over South Africa in the second match at Pallekele Stadium on Wednesday.
Away from the 50-over format for a while, India were placed third while mainstay Virat Kohli held the second position in the batting chart in the latest ICC ODI rankings released in Dubai on Friday. India were positioned third with 110 points behind Australia (124) and New Zealand (113). With 813 points in his kitty, Kohli was only behind South African talisman AB de Villiers and a place ahead of another experienced Protea Hashim Amla in the batting list.
De Grandhomme fell before the end but Williamson reached his century with a six in the final over and guided New Zealand to their fourth win of the tournament with three balls to spare.
South Africa's talismanic captain AB de Villiers has recovered from injury and been included in the Proteas squad for the One-day series at home against Australia starting later this month.
AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn make their long-awaited return to the South Africa Test squad for the day-night four-day Test match against Zimbabwe to be played at St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth, from December 26 to 29.
Dean Elgar's century and a quick-fire unbeaten 68 from Quinton de Kock lifted South Africa to 297 for six on the opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Newlands on Monday.
South Africa's success in Australia is often put down to their comfort on the hard local tracks, which can be similar to those at home, but they could face some unfamiliar conditions this year.
India's left-arm spinner Axar Patel jumped 20 places to his career-best ranking of 13 in the International Cricket Council's Rankings for ODI bowlers while Jasprit Bumrah and Dhawal Kulkarni also made progress after conclusion of the three-match series against Zimbabwe.
Opener Reeza Hendricks, wicketkeeper Dane Vilas, spinner Aaron Phangiso and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who have all previously represented the country in the limited overs formats, picked for Bangladesh Tests
Jofra Archer showed why England could not leave him out of their final ICC Men's Cricket World Cup squad as he bowled them to opening win against South Africa.
Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla had given South Africa a slender lead over New Zealand at the end of the third day of the first Test on Friday, which was disrupted for 30 minutes by a fire alarm at University Oval.
South Africa's hopes of a semi-final place at the Cricket World Cup appear to have been washed out along with their fixture against the West Indies at the Rose Bowl on Monday.
West Indies edged out South Africa by three wickets in their World Twenty20 Super 10 thriller on Friday at Nagpur to book their spot in the semi-finals from Group One. Requiring nine runs off the last over, all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite smashed a six off Kagiso Rabada to seal a famous victory for the Caribbean side. The Proteas are most-likely knocked out of the tournament and will now have to beat Sri Lanka by a handsome margin and hope that England lose to them on Saturday to qualify for the semi-finals.
South Africa will dearly miss AB de Villiers in the World Cup. De Villiers announced a shock retirement from international cricket last year.
South Africa fought back in the afternoon session on the third day of the fourth Test on Sunday, reducing England to 138 for six in their second innings and restricting the hosts to a lead of 274.
Two wickets from successive balls in Ben Stokes's third over removed Quinton de Kock (5) and Faf du Plessis (0) and ended faint South Africa hopes of mounting a rearguard action in pursuit of their nominal target of 492.
Conceding that South Africa's teams haven't really fulfilled their potential in World Cups, captain Faf du Plessis said the Proteas need to win the upcoming ICC World T20 to shed the tag of 'chokers' which is haunting them for quite a while now.
India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who scalped four wickets and scored 30 and 33 in the two innings, was adjudged the Player of the Match.
South Africa have named fast bowler Dale Steyn in their 15-man squad for the World Twenty20 in India next month, but will ask him to prove his fitness following a debilitating shoulder injury.
Enjoying one of the best phases in his career so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore's inspirational leader Virat Kohli is ready to play through pain against Kings XI Punjab with multiple stitches in his split webbing in another must-win IPL encounter in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Kohli sustained split webbing in his left hand while fielding against Kolkata Knight Riders as he went for a diving catch. He left the field briefly to get medical assistance, got his webbing taped and was back in field. He then played another classy knock to keep RCB's play-off qualification hopes alive. "I might need 7-8 stitches," Kohli had said after the match but if KXIP thought that the opposition skipper will make himself unavailable, they would be in for disappointment as RCB's manager Avinash Vaidya said that India's No 1 batsman will be playing in this crucial encounter.
South Africa's hopes of victory on day five of the second Test against West Indies were thwarted in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday by heavy overnight rain and a wet outfield which prevented any play.
South Africa beat Pakistan by 28 runs after Quinton de Kock scored his maiden one-day international hundred and Dale Steyn posted his best ever match figures in the fourth game of the series in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
South African fast bowler Dale Steyn will not bowl again in the opening Test against England at Kingsmead after his shoulder spasm failed to clear up overnight, officials said on Tuesday.
Top-ranked South Africa lost their three-match series to England 2-1 but former ICC U-19 World Cup star Rabada's haul of four for 39 in the final match at Lord's on Monday helped him finish the series with seven wickets and become the youngest number-one bowler since Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq in 1998.
South Africa begin their three-month tour of England with a one-day international against the hosts at Leeds on Wednesday and team manager Mohammed Moosajee admitted the players are concerned.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the performance of India's top-order batsmen save Murali Vijay terming their effort as "below-par" despite the pitch being a tricky one.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 1.
Former India opener Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday said that it is not a poor advertisement for cricket if a Test match finishes inside three days and such results are coming more often in recent years since the players nowadays lack patience to survive five days.
Morne Morkel makes a return to the limited-overs format after nearly 10 months, adding experience to the pace bowling group featuring Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, Chris Morris, Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo.
Cheteshwar Pujara's unbeaten 63 gave India a firm hold on the opening Test against South Africa after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his 13th five-wicket haul to restrict the touring side to 184 on the second day on Friday.
Eighteen wickets fell on the second day, the most at this ground since 1914
South Africa exceeded expectations by scoring 431 in their first innings. At stumps on Day 4, they were 11 for one, needing another 384 runs for an improbably victory.
Martin Guptill underlined his importance to the New Zealand one-day side with a blistering match-winning century as he guided his side to a seven-wicket victory over South Africa in their fourth one-day international in Hamilton on Wednesday.
India have accumulated 122 points on the back of series wins over Australia and New Zealand and are placed behind England.
England's Steven Finn took three wickets as South Africa, chasing an unlikely 416 for victory, struggled to 136 for four on the fourth day of the first Test.
Opener Dean Elgar provided stubborn resistance as South Africa finished the second day of the first Test on 137 for four in reply to England's 303 at Kingsmead on Sunday.
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