Ravichandran Ashwin, India's One-Man Demolition Army, En Route to Greatness

All's well that starts well. In the fitness of things, Ravichandran Ashwin ended the Test series against South Africa the same way he began - by taking wickets. The Chennai off-spinner had trapped opener Stiaan van Zyl for 5 in Mohali on November 5. On Monday, Ashwin bowled Morne Morkel for 2 as India sealed a 3-0 series win in Delhi.

In between Mohali and Kotla, Ashwin bowled 164.4 overs, conceded 345 runs and picked up a whopping 31 wickets at an average of 11.12 and an average of 2.09. He was the unanimous choice for the Man of the Series award and no one got closer. (Also Read: SA Lost Series in Dressing Room, Says Gavaskar)

The sheer volume of Ashwin's numbers in this series indicates the kind of impact he has had. He has confounded them with guile. He has made them uncertain with his variations. He choked South Africa with his nagging accuracy.

The end result: Ashwin walking away with the fifth-best haul by an India in a series of three Tests or more, joining the likes of Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Vinoo Mankad, Subhash Gupte and Harbhajan Singh, all legends of the game. (Ashwin, Rahane, Kohli Dedicate Win to Chennai Flood Victims)

With four five-wicket hauls in this series and one 10-wicket haul, it is safe to say that Ashwin has owned the Proteas in this series.

During the Kotla Test, Ashwin employed all the factors of flight, guile and drift to perfection which had served him well in previous matches to systematically pulverise South Africa's dogged resistance. At Kotla, Ashwin dismissed Dean Elgar with a flighted delivery that spun away to take the outside edge. Temba Bavuma was undone by a delivery that straightened to knock off stump.

JP Duminy was sent packing by a straight delivery that kept low but it was the wicket of superman AB de Villiers that demonstrated his class. Using the rough, Ashwin landed the ball accurately on middle-off and got it to reared up sharply. De Villiers gloved it to Ravindra Jadeja at leg slip. That was game, set and match for India, well almost!

Ashwin pointed out South Africa's fault on India's wicket. "It's about having a solid defence as a batter. On all these black soil wickets in North and Central India, the fizz goes off on the surface with time. If you trust your defence, you can actually play balls off the front foot."

The Tamil Nadu offspinner's returns helped him win his fifth Man of the Series award. He joined Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar for having won most Man of the Series Awards. His performances have put Indian cricket on an ultimate high.