India registered a 2-1 series win over South Africa after opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maiden century in one-day internationals secured his nine-wicket haul in the third and final match in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
Jaiswal, who played second fiddle in an opening stand of 155 with Rohit Sharma (75), smashed an unbeaten 116 as India chased a 271-run target with over 10 overs remaining.
“The most pleasing thing about this series is the way we kept our composure,” Indian captain KL Rahul said at the presentation ceremony.
“South Africa intended to put us under pressure. A result didn’t go our way, but we weren’t too upset.”
Earlier, Quinton de Kock hit a fine 106, but South Africa was dismissed for a below-par 270 in the 48th over.
In a notable prelude, India ended an unfortunate streak of 20 consecutive dropped tosses in ODIs.
Skipper Rahul hit the air to celebrate and chose to field to spare his bowlers the predicament of having to operate with a wet ball once the evening dew had set in.
South Africa’s innings started shaky with the early departure 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 around.
Left wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav (4-41) then 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 their run strong with Rohit leading the way.
The 38-year-old former Indian captain compiled a superb 75 – his fourth fifty-plus score in five innings – anchoring a great opening stand with Jaiswal, who was happy to wait for time at the other end.
Rohit departed after missing his 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 typically routine 65, which followed his hundreds at Ranchi and Raipur.
“Playing like I did in the series is the most satisfying thing for me,” said player of the series Kohli.
“I feel really free-spirited. I haven’t played like that in two or three years.”
