Clinical India defeated South Africa by 78 runs in the third and final ODI at Boland Park on Thursday. Men in Blue clinched the series 2-1 with a comfortable win in the series decider. India got the better of the Proteas on their home turf and sealed a memorable series win. Chasing 297, South Africa were bowled out for 218 in 45.5 overs, despite Tony de Zorzi’s 81-run knock off 87 balls. Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh grabbed four wickets for India while Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan bagged two each.

Batting first, debutant Rajat Patidar gave India a quickfire start, smashing 3 fours and a six. But South African pacers did well to get back into the game, dismissing Patidar (22) and Sai Sudharsan (10) in quick succession. Sanju Samson alongside KL Rahul added 52 runs to steady the Indian innings. Wiaan Mulder picked up the important wicket of Rahul (21).

However, Samson and Tilak Varma read the pitch conditions well and kept the scoreboard ticking with brilliant batting. Both stitched a superb 116-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Varma departed for 52 while Rinku Singh chipped in with 38. Samson stood tall and played his natural game to bring up his maiden ODI ton. Samson’s classical knock of 108 helped India to post 296/8 in 50 overs.

The Proteas’ chase got off to a steady start as Reeza Hendricks and Zorzi added 59 runs in 8 overs. Arshdeep Singh produced the crucial breakthrough by dismissing Hendricks (19). Axar Patel then cleaned up Rassie van der Dussen for just 2. Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen showed some resistance to score 36 and 21 respectively. Indian bowlers exhibited a fine effort to trouble the South African batters and took wickets regularly to win the game.