I think we have got the wood on South Africa, but that does not mean they are not a good team. They intimidate a lot of teams but we intimidate them. There is no disrespect for South Africa; they are a very good team.

However a spell of 3/11 in the second innings precipitated the hosts' second innings collapse and contributed to a remarkable Australian win. Warne's dismissal of Rahul Dravid in the first inning of the final test at Bangalore took him past Lance Gibbs' tally of 309 wickets making him the most successful spinner in Test Cricket. His performances in the semifinal against South Africa and in the final against Pakistan helped him get Man of the Match Awards.

He retired from international cricket in January 2007 at the end of Australia's 5–0 AShane Warnes series victory over England. Warne played his first Test match in 1992 and took over 1000 international wickets (in Tests and One-Day Internationals) second to this milestone after Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan. He led his team to victory against the Chennai Super Kings in a cliffhanger of a final match on 1 June 2008.