Visakhapatnam: Yashasvi Jaiswal reeled off an unbeaten maiden ODI hundred, carrying India to a nine-wicket victory in the third and final one-dayer and a 2-1 series win against South Africa here on Saturday.
It was always a case of the margin of victory once Jaiswal (116 not out, 121 balls) and his senior opening partner Rohit Sharma (75, 73 balls) stitched 155 runs in 25.5 overs, and it turned precisely so as India finished with 271 for one in 39.5 overs, chasing 271.
Virat Kohli contributed a classy 65 not out off 45 deliveries.
Quinton de Kock made a refined 106 off 89 balls, his 23rd ton in ODIs, but it remained a shiny footnote as Indian batters dictated the course with authority.
Jaiswal was not comfortable initially in his innings but the assured presence of Rohit at the other end was a massive blessing for him.
Rohit guided the understudy, who was playing only his fourth ODI, through some early turbulent phases, and also did the bulk of the scoring.
The 38-year-old reached his fifty in 54 balls, tranquil by his standards but those patented, magical swivel pull shots, three of them sailed for sixes, lent the innings a touch of aggression.
It enabled Jaiswal to collect runs unhurriedly, and walked to fifty in 75 balls. But once he reached his fifty, the left-hander grew in confidence and opened a lot more, unbuckling some of those drives and cuts that he carefully avoided in the early phase of his innings.
Rohit, who became the fourth Indian batter to reach 20000 international runs during his knock after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Kohli, looked set for another hundred.
But an ill-timed sweep off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj cut short his stay. But that didn’t deter Jaiswal, who, accompanied by Kohli, kept India’s innings moving.
The 23-year-old reached the coveted three-figure mark in 111 balls with a single off pacer Corbin Bosch and immediately tore his helmet away to slip into an energetic celebration — a combination of sprint, jump, roar and punch in the air.
Jaiswal and a typically assertive Kohli added 156 runs for the second wicket as India calmly went past the target to whip some frenzy among a nearly 27000-strong crowd.
Earlier, a largely disciplined bowling effort also played its part in keeping South Africa to a manageable total, an effort led by pacer Prasidh Krishna (4/66) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/41).
After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89 balls, 8×4, 6×4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67 balls) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.
De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.
The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit Rana offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.
De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.
India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma (48, 67 balls) to get caught by Kohli at point.
But the tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzke for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.
But Breetzke’s punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.
What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle-order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).
Breetzke was the first to go, trapped plumb in front and four balls later Aiden Markram chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.
Prasidh then castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery.
All of a sudden, South Africa found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in three overs.
Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as South Africa fell short of even a par total on this track.
