India completed a seven-wicket victory on Thursday night, despite a stunning century by Aiden Markram on the second — and final — day at Newlands.

Twenty three wickets fell on the first day, which ended with South African batting consultant Ashwell Prince declaring “there was something wrong”.

Watch India’s Tour of South Africa LIVE and Exclusive to Fox Sports available on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

The second day ended with a fiery rebuke from Indian captain Rohit Sharma.

Sharma on Thursday told critics of sub-continent pitches to “keep their mouths shut”, blasting what he believes are double standards in the sport.

The Newlands Test was the shortest Test match in history in terms of balls bowled — 642 or 107 overs — to end in an outright result.

The previous shortest Test also involved South Africa, who were beaten by Australia in 656 balls in Melbourne in 1932.

Set 79 to win, India needed just 12 overs to secure the victory.

It was a stunning turn around from the First Test in Centurion, where South Africa won by an innings and 32 runs.

Chasing a small target on a difficult pitch, Indian opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal went on the attack from the first ball, making 28 off 23 deliveries before being caught on the boundary off Nandre Burger.

Captain Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 16.

Sharma, speaking after his team achieved the quickest win in Test history, said there needs to be consistency in how pitches were rated by match referees.

Conditions were treacherous for batsmen from the first morning when South Africa were bowled out for 55 on a surface which had inconsistent bounce as well as pace and considerable seam movement.

“We saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played,” said Sharma.

“I honestly don’t mind playing on pitches like this as long as everyone keeps their mouths shut in India and don’t talk too much about Indian pitches.”

Sharma said he still couldn’t believe that the pitch for last year’s World Cup final in Ahmedabad — where his team were defeated by Australia — was rated below average.

“The ICC, the match referees, need to start rating pitches on what they see, not based on the countries. Honestly I would like to see how the pitches are rated.”

Sharma said it was a reality that pitches in India tended to help spin bowling but this seemed to be more of an issue than excessive seam movement. He urged match referees to “stay neutral”.

Chris Broad was the match referee for the Test and his rating on the pitch will have to be submitted to the International Cricket Council before it is made public.

Dean Elgar, South Africa’s stand-in captain in his last match before retiring from international cricket, admitted the hosts had misread the pitch in deciding to bat first after winning the toss.

He said he’d “never seen a Newlands pitch like this before”.

“I’ve never seen the pitch that quick on day one,” he told Star Sports.

Prince said after the match: “I’ve never seen the pitch that quick on day one.

“I don’t think as batters you mind the pace in the wicket but then you need the bounce to be consistent. The bounce was a little bit inconsistent with some keeping low and some bouncing quite steeply. There’s also the seam movement, which you don’t mind on day one but if you have the seam movement with consistent bounce, then it’s a different situation.”

Markram hit 106 off 103 balls before South Africa were bowled out for 176 shortly before lunch.

Jasprit Bumrah took six for 61 — and was denied the wicket of Markram when the batsman, on 71, edged a drive and wicketkeeper KL Rahul could not hold a catch above his head.

Markram defied a pitch with pace, extravagant seam movement and uneven bounce, on which the highest score of any of his teammates in either innings was 15.

He hit 17 fours and two sixes, one of which, off Prasidh Krishna, sailed out of the ground and onto a railway line beyond square leg.

The 29-year-old opening batsman was eventually out caught at mid-off by Sharma off Mohammed Siraj attempting another big shot.

Siraj set up India’s win when he took six for 15 as South Africa were bowled out for 55 before lunch on Wednesday night.

— with AFP