Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his maiden century in 50-over cricket while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli hammered half-centuries as India established their batting might by handing South Africa a nine-wicket defeat with around 10 overs to spare in the series-deciding third and final ODI at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. 

After Kuldeep Yadav (4-41) and Prasidh Krishna (4-66) claimed four wickets apiece to help India bundle out South Africa for 270 built mainly on a 106 by Quinton de Kock and 48 by Temba Bavuma, Jaiswal scored an unbeaten 116 off 121 balls, Rohit Sharma blazed to 75 off 73 balls while Kohli hammered 65 not out off 45 balls as India raced to 271/1 off 39.1 overs in a majestic display of batting to seal a dominant nine-wicket victory.

With this, India won the three-match ODI series 2-1, making a grand comeback with the white ball after being swept aside 0-2 in the Test series. This is India’s 10th successive ODI series triumph at home.

Chasing a modest target of 271, Yashasvi Jaiswal, who became the sixth Indian batter and youngest at that to score a century in all three formats of the game, and Rohit Sharma made a cautious start before unleashing some superb shots all around the park. Rohit was quite aggressive at the start as he raced to his fifty 50 off 54 balls as they laid the foundation for victory with a 155-run partnership for the opening wicket.

Rohit, who was adjudged Player of the Match, pulled and drove with aplomb as he scored his second half-century of the series, following the half-century in Ranchi. He struck seven boundaries and three brilliant sixes as he showed that he can smash any attack on his day, even at 38 years old. He looked good for a century but fell to Keshav Maharaj, caught by Matthew Breetzke off an attempted sweep shot.

Jaiswal, who built his innings with patience, reached his fifty off 75 balls as Rohit blasted shots from the other end. He changed gears after scoring his maiden half-century, unleashing his full potential of shot-making. He reached his first century in ODI format off 111 balls, studded with 10 fours and 1 six.

But it was Virat Kohli, who stole the show with a majestic display of power-hitting, driving, slicing, pulling with ease as he unleashed a torrent of shots, as he blazed to his half-century off 40 balls (4×4, 1×6). The best of his shots was a no-look six off Corbin Bosch that left the capacity crowd mesmerised. He finished the three-match series with 301 runs with two centuries and one fifty.

Jaiswal and Kohli, who had smashed centuries in the first two ODIs of the series, shared a 116-run partnership for the second wicket to seal a well-deserved and dominant victory. Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 116 off 121 balls with Kohli 65 not out off 45 balls.

Earlier, asked to bat first after the Indian captain won the toss after 20 consecutive losses, South Africa lost Ryan Rickelton (0) in the first over to Arshdeep Singh, but Quinton de Kock struck a superb hundred and, with help from skipper Temba Bavuma (48) and Matthew Breetzke (24), helped the visitors reach a strong position at 168/2.

Together with captain Temba Bavuma, de Kock scored 113 runs for the second wicket partnership and then, with Matthew Breetzke, shared a 54-run stand to reach his century off 80 balls in the 30th over of SA’s innings.

De Kock now shares the top position with compatriot AB de Villiers, who has seven centuries under his name ahead of West Indies legend Chris Gayle, who has scored six centuries in India. De Kock has amassed 23 ODI hundreds while serving as a designated wicketkeeper. As a designated keeper, he has tied with Kumar Sangakkara, who also hit 23 centuries. Currently, this is the designated keepers’ joint-highest total of hundreds.

But Prasidh Krishna, who was taken to cleaners in 0-27 in two overs in his first spell, redeemed himself a bit by trapping Breetzke for a run-a-ball 24 (2×6) to trigger a collapse, as South Africa lost three quick wickets to have half of their batters in the dugout for 199 runs.

Prasidh Krishna, in his second spell, continued his fightback by having Aiden Markram, who scored a hundred in the previous match, lob a slower one to Virat Kohli for one, and then got the massive wicket of Quinton de Kock, the South African opener playing all over a fast and full delivery and seeing his middle-stump sent cartwheeling.

Dewald Brevis (29) and Marco Jansen (17) added 35 runs for the sixth wicket, but Kuldeep changed the complexion of the game by getting both batters in the space of three balls to turn things in India’s favour. He got Brevis with a wrong’un pitched outside the off-stump, and the South African spooned it up to Rohit Sharma at midwicket. A ball later, Kuldeep, bowling with a dry ball for the first time in this series, had another one as Jansen tried to hit out a well-tossed up delivery with a cross-batted shot, only to be caught by Ravindra Jadeja at deep midwicket.

Keshav Maharaj struck a couple of fours in his unbeaten 20, but Kuldeep added Corbin Bosch (9) and Lungi Ngidi to his victims, and Prasidh Krishna returned for his third spell and bowled Ottneil Baartman (3) to leave India needing 271 runs to win the match and seal a 2-1 series win.

The Indian bowlers initially got the stick but came back strongly in the middle-overs to wrap up the South African innings with two overs to spare and laid the foundation for victory.

Brief scores: South Africa 270 all out in 47.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 106, Temba Bavuma 48, Dewald Brevis 29; Kuldeep Yadav 4-41, Prasidh Krishna 4-66) lost to India 2271/1 in 39.5 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 116 not out, Rohit Sharma 75, Virat Kohli 65; Keshav Maharaj 1-44) by nine wickets