India vs South Africa 3rd ODI: Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and top-order deliver comfortable series win for India

A clinical all-round performance from India took them to a crushing nine-wicket win in the series decider against South Africa in Vizag on Saturday (December 6). Fine spells from Prasidh Krishna (4-66) and Kuldeep Yadav (4-41) restricted South Africa to just 270 and India's top-three then made mince meat of the target with all of them getting past fifties. With this, India sealed the series 2-1.

Yashasvi Jaiswal's maiden ODI ton headlined the chase, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both producing classy fifties to cap off a strong series for the veterans. In fact, Kohli finished with two centuries and a fifty in the three-match series, comfortably the best batter on show. Rohit, who started with a half-century in Ranchi, concluded it with another fifty as he also got past 20000 runs in international cricket.

Meanwhile, it was Jaiswal who had the hunger and time to get to a hundred, his first in the format. After a scratchy start, the southpaw grew in confidence to produce a well-paced knock. The support and intent from Rohit early on allowed Jaiswal to gradually grow into the game. Also, the lack of scoreboard pressure meant that the hosts could afford to take their time in the chase.

In the end, the target was chased with more than ten overs to spare and nine wickets left. Kohli continued from where he left off in Ranchi and Raipur, stroking the ball as effortlessly as he ever has. This series witnessed Kohli to the nearest of his peak white-ball batting ability and there is also a noticeable urge to up the strike-rate without compromising on his fundamentals. Jaiswal motored past hundred while Kohli elegantly breezed past another ODI fifty.

South Africa will rue their batting effort afte Quinton de Kock's (106) masterly hundred had put them on course for a total in the vicinity of 340-350, if not more. After a couple of failures, de Kock was fluent as he brought up the century off just 80 balls. After a strong foundation was created at the top, the tourists failed to consolidate and capitalise on that during the middle overs.

De Kock put up 113 runs for the second wicket with skipper Temba Bavuma (48) who was happy to play second fiddle in the partnership. The duo's efforts put the visitors on track for a huge total after the first-over dismissal of Ryan Rickelton. Even after Bavuma fell to Ravindra Jadeja, de Kock added 54 for the third wicket with Matthew Breetzke to keep things going for the Proteas.

However, once de Kock perished to an excellent delivery from Prasidh, the innings derailed completely for South Africa. Just before his wicket, Prasidh had also taken out the in-form Breetzke and Aiden Markram cheaply. It was the game-defining phase as India came back in sensational fashion to strangle their opponents.

Kuldeep ensured that Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch wouldn't be able to replicate any of their hitting specials from the previous two games. From 168-2, South Africa folded for 270 with 13 balls still left in the innings. The result was a foregone conclusion at the halfway mark itself, especially with dew set to arrive in the second half.

South Africa's only chance was to grab early wickets with the new ball but Jaiswal and Rohit put on a century stand of 155 to nip that in the bud. The first ten overs only saw 48 runs but the pair gradually stepped on the gas to take the bowling apart. Rohit departed in his frenzy to keep going hard but Jaiswal and Kohli added an unbroken 116 to wrap up the game and series in style.