Durban - Jacques Kallis was named man-of-the-match in the third test against India and also scooped the man-of -the -series award at Sahara Park, Newlands, on Thursday.
South Africa and India drew the three-match test series. The Proteas recorded an empathic victory in the first test at Centurion but the Indians fought back in Durban to level the series.
Kallis was rewarded for scoring 498 runs with a double century and two other centuries during the series. He also took some valuable wickets and catches.
He showed a fighting spirit when he continued to play despite suffering an injury.
The star felt honoured and was thrilled to receive the man-of-the-match award, especially in front of the Newlands crowd.
"I'm playing as well as I've ever played and I've worked hard over the last three or four years to up my scoring rate and the hard work has really paid off," said the Proteas batsman in a post match interview.
Kallis, who said the muscle tear got worse during play, has been left out for the upcoming one day international series.
"Obviously it made it worse and now it'll take me at least four weeks to recover. I hope it won't affect the World Cup. Proteas captain Graeme Smith said it was a "terrific series, I think every day and every session was really competitive."
He added: "As a team we managed to compete really well with the best team in the world. We just didn't have enough to close it off today, unfortunately, but I think if we can just build on the blocks that we've had in place, then we can look to take ourselves forward nicely."
While the skipper was reluctant to dissect the series, he did compliment Kallis for his inspirational performance and holding the team together.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he was pleased with his men for fighting back after their dismal start.
"It was a very interesting series. As far as coming from behind is concerned, we were quite used to it ... we never played the first test match well. So it's really good to come back like this. We couldn't get that last effort in terms of taking the last few wickets in the second innings. At the end of the day, I think we'll be happy with our performance," said Dhoni.
India remains the number one test nation in the world followed by South Africa.
