Just going to say this out here. I can understand RSA fans being annoyed. I get annoyed and feel its unfair when we get beaten on tracks where we do not have players to make a difference on. Same has happened to RSA here. BUT, when you let it go, you will realize this is what happens in international cricket today. Everyone can waaaahhh all they want (and Vaughan is an a-class a-hole on twitter anyways) but nothing is going to change that. As long as the pitch was not actually dangerous and did not make it completely in favor of one side (which is what would have happened had the track been flat on days 1 and 2 and then became this) it was a fair cricket match. This was that and RSA lost. They batted brilliantly today and maybe the pitch did slow down but this is what both sets of batsmen should have tried to do from the beginning. Batting defensively and taking the game deeper would have definitely made a difference and both teams had players with the caliber to do that but unfortunately, they, just like most of the posters here, have just been too blinded by T20 cricket and definitions of the unreal notions like the "ideal" cricket pitch and let the demons enter their heads and paid the price.
Yes this was an unfair wicket in the sense that it suited India's strength by a huge margin but that is how most teams play at home these days. RSA, to their credit, have competed well and even won in such conditions before. I remember Waahs all around when Kolkata 2010 happened as well but trust me this wicket brought RSA into the game much more than that pitch. If your boys batted decently in the first dig (and they didn't, it was harakiri) you were this close to winning this match and levelling the series. South Africa compete better than anyone away from home mainly because they are one team who do not waaahhh all the time when tough conditions are presented to them. I can see it breaking down already and maybe this is the real legacy of G Smith that your lot will miss from now. A strong man who can lead his team play the conditions as they are rather than as they imagine it to be and treat tough, even unfair, conditions as challenges.
FWIW, Dale Steyn here with Morkel could have well razed us for 150 in the first dig. RSA have been very very unfortunate with the injuries in this series. More than conditions and pitches, THAT is what has cost them.