Sanju Samson scored a fantastic hundred as India clinched the three match series 2-1 by defeating South Africa by 78 runs in the third and the final one dayer at Boland Park in Paarl on Thursday.
After being asked to bat first, debutant Rajat Patidar scored a quickfire 16 ball,22 before being bowled by Nandre Burger. Sai Sudharsan was then trapped leg before wicket by Beuran Hendricks for 10.
The pair of Samson along with skipper KL Rahul added 52 runs for the third wicket stand before the former was dismissed by Wiaan Mulder for 21.
Wicket keeper Samson featured in yet another crucial 116 run stand for the fourth wicket alongside Tilak Varma. Varma struggled early on initially but accelerated and scored a well deserved half century.
The left hander (52) however perished while trying to take on Keshav Maharaj. Rinku Singh provided the finishing touches to the innings by scoring a quickfire 27 ball- 38 to take Men in Blue to 296/8 in their 50 overs.
Chasing 297, openers Reeza Hendricks and Tony de Zorzi got South Africa off to a solid start. The pair added 59 runs for the opening wicket before Arshdeep Singh provided the breakthrough bu dismissing Reeza Hendricks (19) caught behind the stumps. Axar Patel then dismissed Rassie van der Dussen (2) with an arm delivery.
Opener Tony de Zorzi carried on his good form by scoring a 87 ball-81 before being trapped by an in-swinging delivery by Arshdeep. Aiden Markram (36) and Heinrich Klaasen (21 ) got starts but could not carry on. The South Africa lower order could not offer much resistance as they were bowled out for 218 in 45.5 overs.
India 296 for 8 (Samson 108, Tilak 52, Hendricks 3-63) beat South Africa 218 (de Zorzi 81, Markram 36, Arshdeep 4-30) by 78 runs