Opening batsman Quinton de Kock provided the early flourish with the bat with his seventh century while fast bowler Morne Morkel applied the finishing touch with four wickets as South Africa beat India by 18 runs on Sunday to take a 2-1 series lead in Rajkot, on Sunday.
- Scorecard
The 22-year-old de Kock continued his purple patch in ODIs against India, scoring his fourth century in seven innings against the opponents to set up South Africa's total of 270-7 in 50 overs after they chose to bat on winning the toss.
The hosts lost opener Shikhar Dhawan (13) early to Morkel but looked well poised for a victory charge with half-centuries from Rohit Sharma (65) and Virat Kohli (77).
Opening batsman Rohit and Kohli added 72 for the second wicket before the former fell to a smart return catch from part-time off-spinner JP Duminy.
Kohli then added 80 for the next wicket with his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (47) to keep India in the hunt before Morkel returned to strike.
The South African plan of bowling short at the batsmen's bodies while packing the leg side boundary with four fielders proved effective.
After Dhoni failed to negotiate a short delivery from the tall Morkel, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane holed out deep on the mid-wicket fence on consecutive deliveries in the paceman's final over, which put paid to India's hopes of chasing down the total.
India could only manage 252 for six in their 50 overs.
Earlier, left-hander de Kock grafted his way to a century and put on 118 runs with Faf du Plessis to power South Africa to a decent 270 for seven after they had elected to bat first.
The wicketkeeper-batsman played the sheet-anchor's role to perfection in hot and sweltering conditions at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium to make 103 in 118 balls.
Courtesy of de Kock's ninth hundred in his 50th ODI appearance along with Du Plessis' 63-ball-60, the visitors did well to set up a fighting target. The youngster continued his good run against India, scoring his fourth century against them in seven innings.
But the loss of three wickets just before the slog overs, including that of de Kock, arrested their progress though Farhan Behardien (33 off 36 balls) played a useful knock in the end.
Prior to the century partnership between de Kock -- who hit 11 fours and a six -- and du Plessis, the former put on 72 runs for the first wicket with promoted David Miller (33) to provide the tourists with a good beginning.
De Kock was run out with the final 10 overs to come soon after du Plessis was dismissed and this was followed by the departure of their captain A B de Villiers, sent back by Axar Patel, off the next ball of the innings.
The clutch of three quick wickets in the space of just nine balls, left South Africa in a spot of bother at 210 for five, in the 41st over.
Towards the end the visitors added 60 runs, including 35 in the last five, but fell well short of the 300 mark that they were aiming for.
Earlier, Indian spinners, Harbhajan Singh (1/41 in 10 overs) in particular, applied the brakes in time, after which the Proteas steadily built up the score before losing the three wickets in a hurry.
Choosing to bat first, South Africa were given a good start by their new all-left-handed opening pair of Quinton de Kock and David Miller, promoted up the order after his twin failures earlier in the series, who put on 72 runs.
The new ball came on to the bat quite well and the duo flourished a bit to score a few boundary hits, including a six over fine leg by de Kock off Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
The scoring rate dropped significantly once Harbhajan, who bowled pretty impressively by varying his pace and had an extended opening spell of 1 for 31 in 8 overs.
With leg-spinner Amit Mishra (1/38 in 10 overs) brought on at the other end, and with the ball getting older the going became a little bit tougher for the South Africans after the brisk start that helped raise the 50 in the ninth over.
The period between 10 and 15 saw only 16 runs scored and also the departure of Miller who looked in trouble against Harbhajan and was caught brilliantly at short thirdman by Ajinkya Rahane off a leading edge while trying to drive the veteran off spinner.
The visitors lost Hashim Amla, who too has not been in prime form so far in the series, in the 19th over when the score was 87.
The right-hander was deceived by a loopy leg break bowled a bit wide of off stump as he stepped out and was stumped smartly by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Du Plessis, who scored back to back half- centuries, led a charmed life as he was given three reprieves, one of those by third umpire CK Nandan.
He was lucky when on 17 to be caught off a marginal no-ball in the deep off Mohit Sharma, who used the scrambled seam and back of the hand balls to slow down his pace.
Three runs later the South African was put down by a leaping Suresh Raina off Patel who was again the bowler when Shikhar Dhawan could not latch on to a catch after diving to his right at covers in the 37th over soon after completing his third successive half-ton of the rubber.
However, he departed when he scooped Mohit Sharma behind the wicket for Bhuvaneshwar Kumar to take a running catch. This was followed by the dismissals in successive balls of de Kock and de Villiers to prop up the Indian hopes.
