India registered a 2-1 series win against South Africa after opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maiden century in one-day internationals ensured their nine-wicket victory in the third and final match in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Jaiswal, who played second fiddle to an opening stand of 155 with Rohit Sharma (75), smashed an unbeaten 116 as India chased a target of 271 runs with more than 10 overs to spare.
“The most pleasing thing about the series is how we stayed calm,” India captain KL Rahul said at the presentation ceremony.
“South Africa came out with the intention of putting pressure on us, a result was not ours, but we were not too upset.”
Earlier, Quinton de Kock scored a spirited 106 but South Africa were bowled out for an under-par 270 in the 48th over.
In a remarkable prelude, India ended an unfortunate sequence of 20 consecutive dropped deliveries in ODIs.
Captain Rahul punched the air in celebration and chose to play to spare his players the situation of having to operate with a wet ball once the afternoon dew set in.
South Africa’s innings started shakily with the early exit of Ryan Rickelton, but De Kock and Temba Bavuma, who made 48, forged a century stand to stabilize their innings.
Ravindra Jadeja removed Bavuma to break the partnership, and Prasidh Krishna (4‑66), who bled 27 in his first two overs, returned to dismiss Matthew Breetzke, Aiden Markram and De Kock in a decisive spell to turn the match on its head.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (4-41) cleaned up the tail, sending South Africa to their first sub-300 total of the series.
India, who lost the previous Test series 2-0, started strongly in their chase with Rohit leading the way.
The 38-year-old former India captain compiled a polished 75, his fourth fifty-plus score in five innings, anchoring a great opening stand with Jaiswal, who was happy to bide time at the other end.
Rohit departed after missing his tough sweep against spinner Keshav Maharaj, but Jaiswal became the sixth Indian to reach a hundred in all three international formats of the game.
Virat Kohli, now active exclusively in the ODI format like Rohit, came out to thunderous applause and made a normally smooth 65, which followed his hundreds in Ranchi and Raipur.
“Playing like I do in the series is what satisfies me the most,” said series player Kohli.
“I feel really free mentally. I haven’t played like that in two or three years.”
