Vettel: Miles to go for the young champ

NEW DELHI: Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel might have become Formula 1's youngest ever quadruple world champion by winning the 2013 Indian Grand Prix, but that record is only one of the numerous records that the German holds.

Besides being the youngest ever driver to win the F1 title, Vettel is also the youngest driver to have taken part in an official practice session, the youngest to have scored championship points, the youngest to lead a race, the youngest to secure pole position, the youngest driver to set the fastest lap time during a race, the youngest to get a podium position and of course the youngest to have won a race.

And even though Vettel showed a more controversial side to his character when he passed Australian teammate Mark Webber to win this year's Malaysian Grand Prix despite being told not to, Vettel's achievements speak for themselves.

Of the last eight races, Vettel has won seven with six of them being on the trot. And despite being booed on the podium, notably at Monza and Singapore, his dominance last year as well as this year on the Asian circuit prove that he is probably one of the greatest F1 drivers ever.

Vettel (26), at present, has four Formula 1 driver's world championships to his name. He has now matched the prestigious record of legends Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio of winning 4 consecutive titles. With age on his side, the German can easily get 3 more titles and equal Schumacher's 7-title haul till the time he is 30.

Not only that, with the kind of predominating form that Vettel is in right now, he can also go on to match Schumacher's stupefying record of winning 5 consecutive titles when he races next year.

"Michael Schumacher came and he had a dominant car. It is incredible that he managed to score more championships than all the true legends. So to finish with people like them is amazing. But I am way too young to understand. Probably, when I will be 60 may be I will realise. It is difficult to realise something than no one can take away from you," Vettel said.

The debate regarding who is the greatest ever Formula 1 driver can rage on till the end of time, but one thing that can be stipulated with certain assurance is the fact that Vettel's caliber and aura speak volumes when it comes to fighting his case of earning respect.

He has the talent, he has the skill, and 'best' of all he has the technology in Red Bull to help him achieve his dream of becoming the greatest of all time.

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Dominant Vettel seizes historic F1 title

GREATER NOIDA (India): Sebastian Vettel roared into history as Formula One's youngest four-time champion in superlative style as he dominated the Indian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Formula One stats | In Pics: Vettel clinches 4th F1 title | Factbox

Pole-sitter Vettel pitted early to change his soft tyres but then sped through the field to win 30 seconds ahead of Mercedes's Nico Rosberg, with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean third.

The 26-year-old German becomes the youngest man to win four straight titles, with Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher the only other drivers to achieve the feat.

"Unbelievable day," said the jubilant Vettel over the team radio. "We did it! Yes! Yes!"

Vettel celebrated in uproarious fashion by spinning doughnuts in front of the grandstand. He then stood on top of his Red Bull and saluted the crowd before bowing to his car in mock worship.

Despite teammate Mark Webber's retirement with a mechanical problem, Red Bull also sealed their fourth straight constructors' title in what has become an era of dominance.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was Vettel's nearest challenger going into the race but 90 points adrift, managed only 11th place.

Vettel's sixth win in a row, 10th in 16 races this season and 36th of his career left him poised to shatter more records in the remaining three races in Abu Dhabi, America and Brazil.

If he wins all three, Vettel will equal Schumacher's record of 13 wins in 2004 and become the only driver to secure nine consecutive victories in a season.

Italian Alberto Ascari drove a Ferrari for nine straight wins, but his run was spread over two seasons in 1952 and 1953.

The German, who won the Indian race in both 2011 and 2012, once again dominated the circuit with record times in all three practice sessions this year and a perfect qualifying round on Saturday.

Vettel, made a quick change to medium tyres after the second lap and dropped to the back of the field, but was he returned to second place by the 21st lap behind Webber.

The German regained the lead in the 30th lap but then saw Webber drop out of the race in the 40th due to gearbox problems.

As Vettel took charge in familiar fashion, his team were taking no chances in the pitlane and at one stage even admonished him for trying to set the fastest lap.

The big turnout at Buddh International Circuit would have pleased the organisers, who hope to return to Formula One in 2015 after being left out of the 2014 calendar.

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Tendulkar falls cheaply against Haryana

LAHLI: Haryana's Mohit Sharma clean bowled Sachin Tendulkar for 5 runs as the master failed in the first innings for Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy clash on Sunday.

Sharma pitched a good length delivery on the off-stump and the extra bounce did the trick as it nipped back in a bit with good amount of bounce. Tendulkar leaned forward to defend but the ball brushed off his elbow and then hit the stumps.

Earlier, never had a Ranji Trophy season started on a note like it did on Sunday, with this sleepy hamlet here being woken up from its slumber by the one and only Tendulkar, a good few hours before the retiring legend was accorded a guard of honour in the area's sole landmark destination.

Tendulkar, who had announced his retirement from international cricket after the Test series against the West Indies next month, is to play in what could be his last Ranji Trophy match for his state side, the opponents being hosts Haryana.

To mark the occasion, players from both the teams lined up on two sides at the start of the match as the champion batsman walked out to a thunderous ovation at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Stadium, which nearly touched its maximum capacity of 8000 spectators.

Tendulkar, who will walk into international sunset after playing in his landmark 200th Test from November 14-18 in Mumbai, has been the only talking point in the run-up to this game, which is being seen by many as his last in the premier domestic tournament.

At lunch, after Mumbai bowled out Haryana for a paltry 134, Tendulkar received a memento from state chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with former BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra also in attendance.

The excitement among the locals reached a crescendo when Tendulkar walked out with his most favourite and destructive weapon after Mumbai lost their second wicket in reply to Haryana's first innings total.

The occasion also saw a few players of the Haryana side, which triumphed in the 1991 final over Mumbai under the legendary Kapil Dev's captaincy, reunite.

With Dev attending the event, it seemed the strained relationship he has had with the Haryana Cricket Association, has been buried.

Also present was former India pacer Chetan Sharma, while another surviving member of that 1991 final squad and presently a cricket expert, Ajay Jadeja, led the current Haryana side after having made a comeback to competitive cricket following a hiatus of more than seven years.

The small town had been waiting with bated breath for the match and the excitement was palpable as one made his way through to the stadium via the old town.

The Canal Guest House, where Tendulkar was being put up, was the centre of all the attention as fans tip-toed across the state irrigation department's facility since the crack of dawn.

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Tendulkar fails but Mumbai in control

LAHLI (Haryana): The hype was around Sachin Tendulkar before young Mohit Sharma cashed in on the moment with an all-round effort, which, however, could not prevent Mumbai from having their nose slightly ahead at the end of the first day of their much-anticipated Ranji Trophy opener against Haryana on Sunday.

At stumps, Mumbai were 100/4, having bowled out Haryana for a paltry 134 after skipper Zaheer Khan opted to field.

Mumbai trailed by 34 runs with three full days to go. The retiring Tendulkar gave the inhabitant of this village a sudden sense of anti-climax as he failed to let his bat do the talking after being bowled for a mere five runs by the 25-year-old Mohit, in what is being seen as the biggest of all matches in Ranji's opening fixtures.

Having top-scored with a invaluable 49 in Haryana's pathetic first-innings display, Mohit emerged as the day's one of the two most impressive performers, the other being Mumbai's Abhishek Nayar, who picked up four wickets.

Ajinkya Rahane and nightwatchman Dhawal Kulkarni were batting on 44 and 1, respectively, when the stumps were drawn.

40-time defending champions Mumbai had earlier kicked off their campaign in earnest as they bundled out Haryana at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium.

With the red cherry, Nayar was the star of the day for Mumbai as he bowled his accurate medium pacers to good effect, returning impressive figures of four for 38. Nayar contributed with 24 with the bat on a wicket that seemed to have helped the seamers quite a bit.

The cynosure of all eyes, Tendulkar, who is playing in his last Ranji match having already announced retired from international cricket, stunned the packed crowd when he was bowled by Mohit.

It was a good length delivery that pitched on off and nipped back, but the bounce was what did Tendulkar in as he leaned forward to defend before the ball went through touching his elbow on the way.

For the young Mohit, he would never like to forget this moment as the pacer got the wicket of modern cricket's greatest batsman amid huge expectations from the veteran.

The characteristic straight driven four to get off the mark from Tendulkar did excite the crowd, but the joy was short-lived.

All of a sudden the crowd went silent and it was back to a normal competitive cricket match in the country's premier domestic tournament.

Mumbai though, went about the task in a quiet manner with Rahane and Nayar stitching together a handy 56-run partnership for the fourth wicket before the left-hander was sent back by Mohit.

On a wicket that saw 15 wickets tumble on the opening day itself, Rahane showed composure during his stay at the crease, finding the fence eight times in between running the ones and twos.

On their part, the Haryana bowlers especially Mohit, did well to give Mumbai a bit of a jolt initially after being bowled out for a small total themselves.

The hosts' innings started on an inauspicious note with wicketkeeper-batsman Nitin Saini going back to dressing room after a run-out.

Mumbai chipped in with Haryana's wickets at regular intervals with Nayar doing the bulk of damage. The most sought-after wicket, if not the most important, was however snared by medium pacer Javed Khan when he dismissed comeback man and former India opener Ajay Jadeja.

Zaheer, seeking to return to the Indian team, bowled 10 overs for the lone wicket of Sunny Singh.

Brief scores:

Haryana 1st innings: 134 all out in 35.3 overs (Mohit Sharma 49, Abhimanyu Khod 27; Abhishek Nayar 4/38).

Mumbai 1st innings: 100 for four in 44 overs (Ajinkya Rahane batting 44; Mohit Sharma 2/27).

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'Winning world title in India special'

GREATER NOIDA: It is hard to stop an emotional Sebastian Vettel from speaking his heart out and the German did just that after zooming to his fourth straight world title at the Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix on Sunday.

"It (India) is a pretty special place to the win the championship," said Vettel at the media interaction after taking a deep pause.

The 26-year-old leaned towards the champagne and quenched his thirst before reflecting further on his stupendous achievement of becoming the youngest four-time world champion and the only one to be crowned four times in a row after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher.

"Winning the title in Brazil last year was special too. It was a crazy race. But to win in a place like this will stay with me forever. The place teaches you so much," said Vettel, who enjoyed his success with Indian fans, doing a 'doughnut' after crossing the chequered flag before bowing to his Red Bull.

The Heppenheim-born driver could not stop raving about India when he won the inaugural race in 2011 and this time too it was no different.

"It is human nature to complain and especially as a German you tend to do that a lot. It would be frightening to see the problems faced by the people of this country and yet they don't seem to complain. They are all happy. I know it is a huge country but I hope I get the time to explore it," he said.

With Vettel's domination in the last four seasons, he has already been compared to the likes of Schumacher, Fangio and Alain Prost. The same question was asked yet again.

"Well I don't know. I think I am way too young to think about what I have done. May be when I retire and I am 60, I will think about that. People might not remember me till then but I will surely reflect on these days.

"But in the recent times, racing against Fernando (Alonso), Mark (Webber) and Lewis (Hamilton). They all are exceptionally fast. I remember watching Fernando win championships and now he has been my fiercest competitor."

Asked who he was talking to before stepping into the room, Vettel said: "I was talking to my parents. I really have to thank them. For the support I have got from them ever since I started doing karting."

What about the boos he had to endure despite being the fastest driver?

"It was not an easy season, even though people from the outside had the idea we had it in our hands. It was a difficult one all in all. It was very difficult for me personally to receive boos even though I hadn't done anything wrong. To overcome that, and give my answers on the track, makes me very proud," summed up Vettel.

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Pressure now on India: Aaron Finch

CUTTACK: With rain reducing the bilateral series to a five-match affair and India trailing, Australian opener Aaron Finch feels that the pressure will be on the home side to win the remaining two one-dayers.

"India have to win two to clinch the series, we have to win one to win the series. So that's a position we obviously are happy being. It's a case of two games to go. It's like a mini-final series. It's definitely positive being 2-1 up, better than being 1-2 down. We can't control the weather," Finch told reporters after the match between the two sides was called off due to wet outfield without a single ball being bowled, here today.

This was a second successive wash out in the series after Ranchi where the match was called off with India on 27 for no loss in 4.1 overs, chasing Australia's 296.

The destructive opener said Australia will seek to clinch the series by taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the sixth match in Nagpur.

"We've still two games left. We're very confident that we're playing good cricket at the moment and I'm sure India as well. They were in a good position the other night (in Ranchi) when the game was called off unfortunately."

Such wash-outs mean the days are long for the team members as Finch said: "Yesterday we had a big table tennis tournament as a squad. It was just a bit of fun. There is not a lot you can do around the hotel, with a pool table, a table tennis table."

"A lot of coffee was drunk. They are quite long days, and very boring days sometimes when you're sitting around not knowing what's happening the following day, whether you're going to play or not, whether it's going to be a short game. So it's just very boring, really."

High scoring totals have been the norm of the series and Finch attributed it to the batsmen-friendly new rules.

"I think one-day cricket has become very entertaining now. There was probably a chance that Twenty20 could overtake it as the entertaining game, so to speak. But I think the way the game has changed now. The new rules have made it extremely exciting," he said.

"The scores that we are seeing all around the world now are exceptional. 300 is almost becoming a par score. We'll get to the point where 400 will be chased, I mean India chased 360 in 44 overs or something against us. We're seeing teams get 120-130 off the last 10 overs consistently and that's phenomenal. That just goes on to show how much the game has changed over the last 20 years.

"In the years gone by when there was only one new ball, there was a bit more reverse swing. The ball was softer, and so it was harder to hit a six. So I think the game has definitely changed in the favour of the batsmen now, no doubts. As a batsman, I think it's a great rule," he said.

But, the new rules at the same time, had made the bowlers smarter, Finch added.

"Bowlers have become unbelievably skilled over the last few years, to be able to keep adapting with the times. Changing and improving all the times, trying to stay ahead of the batsmen."

Asked whether they had any special training to practice big hitting shots, Finch said it's about trying to get a feel of the ground.

"We go out there and try and hit a few sixes and just get a feel for how far you're hitting the ball. It's something we do a fair bit of now, just to practice hitting them over the fence. We obviously have our main net session where we just work on our technique and a bit of bat versus ball kind of stuff, but the six-hitting is a fun bit. It makes you feel good at the end of a session."

The Aussies had some indoor training after arriving here in the afternoon, even as the Team India members did not travel to the stadium.

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Lahli in frenzy as Sachin touches down

LAHLI: It will be a precursor to the final bow as the retiring Sachin Tendulkar pads up one last time for Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy match against Haryana amid heightened excitement that has turned this sleepy village of wrestlers into a cricket-crazy arena.

The defending champions' match against the hosts assumes significance as this will be the champion batsman's final competitive outing ahead of next month's Test series against the West Indies, which will culminate with the second game in Mumbai, where Tendulkar will bring the curtain down on a glorious 24-year tryst with international cricket.

Tendulkar had, earlier this month, announced that he would call it a day after playing in his landmark 200th Test, against the West Indies from November 14-18.

Incidentally, in a Ranji final against Haryana in 1991, an 18-year-old Tendulkar bludgeoned his way to a smashing knock and threatened to take the game away from Kapil Dev's side.

Twenty-two years later, Tendulkar, now 40, is the lone surviving member apart from Ajay Jadeja that played the five-day final at the Wankhede Stadium.

Cut to October, 2013, locals here are as geared up as the players themselves to be part of the match, scheduled to take place at the Chaudhury Bansi Lal Stadium in Lahli, around 15km from Rohtak.

Tendulkar had trained with the team for the last four days at the Wankhede Stadium and was learnt to be in great shape.

Normally a quiet town, the place went into a state of frenzy after it emerged that Tendulkar would be playing here to warm up for the two Test matches in Kolkata and at his beloved home ground at the Wankhede.

The match will also be a 'reunion' of sorts as Tendulkar will play against former Team India opener Ajay Jadeja.

The 42-year-old Jadeja is making a domestic comeback for Haryana, and had led the state side to the Buchi Babu title earlier this year.

Tendulkar has played 37 Ranji matches for Mumbai after making his debut against Gujarat in December 1988. His last Ranji appearance was the final at the Wankhede Stadium against Saurashtra in January this year.

Last season also, Tendulkar had turned up for Mumbai before playing the Test series against England at home.

Coming back to tomorrow's match, it will see quite a few top stars including Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Ajinkya Rahane, to name a few, turning out for Mumbai.

Seeking to make a comeback to the Indian team, Zaheer recently underwent intensive training sessions in France and South Africa, and was reported to have given fitness tips to Rahane during the team's last training session at the Wankhede.

The opportunity to watch Tendulkar bat from close quarters knocking on their door, locals here are excited and the mad rush for tickets can be attributed to that.

In-form Rohit Sharma, who was named captain of Mumbai for the Ranji season, will not be available for the match as he is doing national duty in the ongoing One-day series against Australia.

Zaheer will be leading the side in Rohit's absence.

Teams (from):

Mumbai: Zaheer Khan (Capt.), Abhishek Nayar (vice-Capt.), Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane, Dhaval Kulkarni, Iqbal Abdullah, Vishal Dabholkar, Sufiyan Shaikh, Kaustubh Pawar, Siddhesh Lad, Javed Khan, Hiken Shah, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr), Aditya Tare.

Haryana: Ajay Jadeja (Capt./coach), Avi Barot, Sanjay Budhwar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Dalal, Rahul Dewan, Ashish Hooda, Joginder Sharma, Abhimanyu Khod, Harshal Patel, Sachin Rana, Nitin Saini, Sandeep Singh, Mohit Sharma, Sunny Singh, Jayant Yadav.

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F1: Vettel on pole for Indian Grand Prix

GREATER NOIDA (India): Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel put himself on pole position for a fourth successive Formula One title after lapping the Indian Grand Prix circuit faster than any driver ever before on Saturday.

The German, whose lightning lap of one minute 24.119 seconds maintained his record of being on pole in every Indian race since the first in 2011, will have compatriot Nico Rosberg alongside for Mercedes on the front row.

It was the 26-year-old's 43rd career pole and seventh in 16 races so far this season.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, 90 points behind in the standings with four races to go and the only driver who can put Vettel's title celebrations on hold, qualified only eighth on a hazy afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton will line up third for Mercedes, with Vettel's Australian team mate Mark Webber starting in fourth place after he and Vettel had been one-two in every practice session.

However, Webber was the only driver on the front two rows to have set his best lap on the slower but more durable medium tyres with the other three opting for softs and sure to pit earlier.

"Obviously Mark is on a different strategy so we'll see what the race brings tomorrow," said Vettel, who is chasing his sixth successive win as well as an Indian hat-trick at a circuit where he has led every race lap to date.

Alonso, who must finish in the top two to have any hope of staying mathematically in contention after the weekend, also qualified on the medium tyres.

The big loser was Romain Grosjean, who led the previous race in Japan and has finished on the podium in the last two Grands Prix but failed to get his Lotus through the first phase of qualifying.

The Frenchman paid a heavy price for going out on the medium tyre when others were lapping on the softs and will start back in 17th.

"We just missed the cut-off time, everyone went quicker than we thought. Today, for some reason, the mediums were not quick enough. It's a decision we took together, we were confident we could do enough with them but we got it wrong," he said.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen will start sixth, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa in fifth and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg a strong seventh for Sauber. The two McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 behind Alonso.

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Vettel takes 3rd straight Indian GP pole

GREATER NOIDA (India): Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel put himself on pole position for a fourth successive Formula One title after lapping the Indian Grand Prix circuit faster than any driver ever before on Saturday.

The German, whose lightning lap of one minute 24.119 seconds maintained his record of being on pole in every Indian race since the first in 2011, will have compatriot Nico Rosberg alongside for Mercedes on the front row.

It was the 26-year-old's 43rd career pole and seventh in 16 races so far this season.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, 90 points behind in the standings with four races to go and the only driver who can put Vettel's title celebrations on hold, qualified only eighth on a hazy afternoon.

Lewis Hamilton will line up third for Mercedes, with Vettel's Australian team mate Mark Webber starting in fourth place after he and Vettel had been one-two in every practice session.

However, Webber was the only driver on the front two rows to have set his best lap on the slower but more durable medium tyres with the other three opting for softs and sure to pit earlier.

"Obviously Mark is on a different strategy so we'll see what the race brings tomorrow," said Vettel, who is chasing his sixth successive win as well as an Indian hat-trick at a circuit where he has led every race lap to date.

Alonso, who must finish in the top two to have any hope of staying mathematically in contention after the weekend, also qualified on the medium tyres.

The big loser was Romain Grosjean, who led the previous race in Japan and has finished on the podium in the last two Grands Prix but failed to get his Lotus through the first phase of qualifying.

The Frenchman paid a heavy price for going out on the medium tyre when others were lapping on the softs and will start back in 17th.

"We just missed the cut-off time, everyone went quicker than we thought. Today, for some reason, the mediums were not quick enough. It's a decision we took together, we were confident we could do enough with them but we got it wrong," he said.

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen will start sixth, with Ferrari's Felipe Massa in fifth and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg a strong seventh for Sauber. The two McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 behind Alonso.

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South Africa thrash Pak to level series

DUBAI: South Africa kept their seven-year unbeaten away record intact with an innings and 92-run win over Pakistan in the second and final Test in Dubai on Saturday, squaring the two-match series 1-1.

Scorecard

It was a thorough and professional comeback by the world number one Test team after going down in last week's first Test by seven wickets, but the Proteas out-batted and out-bowled Pakistan at Dubai stadium.

The win was completed with a day and 9.5 overs to spare when Pakistan were bowled out for 326 in their second innings after they conceded a big 418-run lead in the first innings.

But Pakistan did not go down without a fight as Asad Shafiq (130) notched his fourth Test hundred and, along with skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (88), frustrated the South Africans during a 197-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir finished with 3-98 and took a total of eight wickets in the match, while part-time right-arm offbreak bowler Jean-Paul Duminy took Shafiq's wicket on the way to career best figures of 3-98.

However, South Africa's deserved win was tainted by a ball-tampering row on Friday, when Faf Du Plessis was caught on television cameras scratching the ball on the zip of his trousers.

The on-field umpires Rod Tucker of Australia and Ian Gould of England along with television umpire Paul Reiffel warned South African captain Graeme Smith, changed the ball and gave five penalty runs to Pakistan.

The ICC (International Cricket Council) match referee David Boon of Australia then fined Du Plessis 50 percent of his match fee on Saturday.

Pakistan were left to rue their low score of 99 in the first innings which never allowed them to add to their only series win over South Africa in 2003 and, after their rivals piled up a mammoth 517 runs in reply, the writing was on the wall.

But when it looked like Misbah and Shafiq would guide Pakistan towards safety, the Pakistani skipper fell to a smart move by his counterpart Smith, who brought on part-timer Dean Elgar, and the left-hand slow bowler did not take long to make an impact.

Misbah's miscued drive off Elgar was well caught by Jacques Kallis, ending a 349-minute vigil in which he hit six boundaries and a six off 218 balls.

Shafiq reached his hundred with a superb on-drive off Duminy for his 11th boundary to complete his second hundred against South Africa.

In the morning, Misbah and Shafiq had added injury to South Africa's insult by batting with a resolve to fight hard after they resumed at 132-4.

Shafiq, on 36, got a reprieve early in the day when a leg-before decision by Australian umpire Rod Tucker was overturned on review. The unlucky bowler was paceman Vernon Philander in the fifth over in the day.

Shafiq, who scored 54 in Pakistan's seven-wicket win in last week's first Test in Abu Dhabi, reached his ninth Test fifty when he guided Duminy towards third man.

In all Shafiq batted for seven hours, hit 15 boundaries and a six in a 320-ball knock, improving on his highest score of 111 made against the same opposition in Cape Town earlier this year.

Misbah followed Shafiq, reaching his 22nd half-century at Test level with a single towards third man off paceman Morne Morkel.

The highlight of the match was Smith's epic 234 and AB de Villiers' 164 during their all-time South African Test record stand for the fifth wicket of 338.

The two teams now play a five-match one-day series, the first of which will be in Sharjah on Wednesday. They will also play two Twenty20 internationals.

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