LIVE: India win by 124 runs, take unassailable 3-0 lead

South Africa captain Aiden Markram wins the toss and opts to field first, perhaps keeping in mind India's superb chasing record.

Live scorecard, Ind vs SA, 3rd ODI, Cape Town

It's 3-0 in India's favour

How silent was this wicket! Dhoni told Kuldeep to bowl the other one and he does. Lands it on middle and gets it to turn away. Ngidi swipes across the line but misses the ball completely. The players don't even bother appealing. The umpire raises the finger. Hold on, Hawk Eye shows the ball to be PASSING OVER THE STUMPS. The hosts didn't have any review left, though. INDIA WIN BY 124 RUNS AND TAKE AN UNASSAILABLE 3-0 LEAD IN THE SERIES!

One wicket to go

The party has ended. Chahal is not afraid to toss it up yet again. Tahir gets down on a knee to slog it out of Cape Town but fails to even clear the 30-yard circle. Finds Kohli at mid on with the skier. This is Chahal's fourth wicket.

SA 8 down

This is getting oh so predictable now. Kuldeep Yadav tosses it up, Andile Phehlukwayo takes the bait and ends up miscuing the sweep shot to provide a simple catch to captain Kohli. SA 8 down.

Three for Chahal

Zondo falls in the queue. The youngster skips down the track, tries to heave it over long on but ends up skying it. Substitute fielder Manish Pandey settles in nicely under it to complete a simple catch. South Africa are seven down, three to go for India to make it 3-0. 

LBW

As plumb as it gets. Morris is done with playing his shot during breakfast while the ball is served for lunch. He gets across the stumps and wears it on the box as he missed his pull. An appeal is just a formality as the finger is raised immediately.

Miller falls, SA 5 down

This was always on the cards, wasn't it? Miller was fishing outside the off stump in the past couple of overs and now, although this isn't the same action, the edge is induced nevertheless. Bumrah runs in from round the wicket and delivers a length ball angling in to the batsman. David looks to pull it off the front foot. Wrongly positioned and a wrong choice of shot as well as the ball wasn't really shot. What's more, he advanced down the track as well. All he managed to do was get an inside edge through to the keeper.

Chahal gets Duminy

That's hitting leg and Duminy, the set batsman, has to depart. Body blow to South Africa's chances. Chahal has his second. Another traditional leg spinner has earned him a wicket. He lands it around off and gets it to spin back into the left-hander. Duminy stays back to flick it on the leg side but misses. He is thudded on the pads, they appeal and this time the umpire thinks a bit before lifting his finger.

Chahal joins the party

This was on the cards. The debutant Klaasen had no clue about that one from Chahal. Pitches on leg stump, turns slightly, the South African wicket-keeper plays all around it. The ball hits him on the knee roll, right in front. Duminy says no for a review and South Africa's worst nightmares are turning into a reality here.

400 for Dhoni

Markram was the 4⃣0⃣0⃣th victim behind the stumps in ODIS for MS Dhoni pic.twitter.com/IJH17gzQy1

— Wah Cricket (@ABPCricketHindi) February 7, 2018

Kuldeep the magician

WOW! Simply outstanding delivery from Kuldeep Yadav. Just when it was looking all downhill for India, the chinaman produces a moment of brilliance to get the South African captain for 32. A nicely tossed up googly around leg stump, Markram doesn't pick it, goes for a booming flick shot, the ball grips and turns, evading Markram's bat to settle into Dhoni's gloves. The weight forces Markram out of his crease and there it is. Kuldeep gets his man in his second delivery. Has the slide begun?

SA 74/1 after 15 overs

The early wicket of Amla has not affected the hosts at all. Duminy and Markram have not only negotiated the Indian seamers but have also scored off them quite easily. And what's heartening for them is the way the left and right combination have tackeld Yuzvendra Chahal. Still a long way and Kuldeep Yadav to go but things look for South Africa in their quest to chase down 304.

Bumrah traps Amla on 1st ball

Dream start for Bumrah! Nightmare for South Africa, Amla the man departs. An action replay of the Test match dismissal. Bumrah gets it to jag back in from length, Amla late to cope with both the swing and pace, the umpire had no doubts in his mind. Markram wisely advises Amla to not to go for the review. India have drawn first blood. 

The South African openers Hashim Amla and captain Aiden Markram make their way out into the centre. A lot depends on these two, if South Africa have to save this series.

India innings round-off

Yet another grand knock from a special batsman! Virat Kohli, you beauty. Extraordinary innings. He held one end tightly and in spite of losing partners at regular intervals, he remained unfazed. This is also his longest innings in ODIs in terms of balls faced. Mind you, conditions are not very conducive and you have to be as fit as him to survive for so long. All those hours in the gym really paid off.

India lost Rohit Sharma in the very first over but Kohli and Dhawan put on a defining 140-run stand for the second wicket to deny the South Africans. Kohli survived a close DRS call and there was no looking back for him from then on.

At one stage, India looked well set to get past 325-run mark but JP Duminy pegged India back with back to back wickets of Dhawan and Rahane. The move to send Pandya ahead of Dhoni did not work either and wickets contnued to tumble at the other end. Jadhav and Dhoni soon fell to loose shots and it was upto Kohli to ensure India gets to the 280-run mark. The Indian captain, though, like always, had other ideas. He put on another 50-run stand with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and ensured a grand finish to push the Indian total to 303 for 6.

Great last over

A towering six and a boundary to finish. What an oustanding innings by the Indian captain. He finishes with an unbeaten 160, India put on 303 for 6 at the end of 50 overs, which means South Africa will need a record to stop the 0-3 inevitable.

Another milestone for Kohli

Virat Kohli becomes first Indian to score an ODI 150 in South Africa. #IND: 289/6 pic.twitter.com/JgPzwKoVXt

— Wah Cricket (@ABPCricketHindi) February 7, 2018

No late flourish

India are not getting the big overs, they would have wished for. Kohli is trying is level best but he is not finding the boundaries at will. Can India get to 300? They need 12 runs in 6 balls with 4 wickets in hand.

Jadhav's shot to forget

Horrible, terrible, disastrous, bring out all the dreadful adjectives and you might still fall short to describe this shocker of a shot from Kedar Jadhav. A nothing delivery around fifth stump from Phehlukwayo and Jadhav somehow manages to get an outside edge to the keeper in his attempted dab down thirdman.

Tahir gets struggling Dhoni

He had to go for it, the pressure was building up and as fate would have it, Dhoni mistimes it to provide a simple catch to Ngidi at long on. Tahir tosses it up, the leg side line doesn't allow Dhoni to free his arms and he gets the bottom of end of the bat. India lose their fifth wicket for 228.

No. 34 for Kohli

#SAvsIND: There it is, is anyone keeping a count? Century No. 3⃣4⃣for Virat Kohli, only 15 away from Sachin Tendulkar's World Record. #IND: 214/4 https://t.co/hvNmRqFwo9 pic.twitter.com/tu33W9YSzP

— Wah Cricket (@ABPCricketHindi) February 7, 2018

Pandya departs

Loose from Pandya. The move to prmote him ahead of Jadhav and Dhoni doesn't work for India. Chris Morris gets into the wickets column for the first time in this series. A widish delivery moving away, Pandya flashes without much feet movement, gets the outside edge and the debutant behind the stumps makes no mistake. He's having a good game so far and South Africa are slowly making a comeback. India four down for 188.

Duminy brings SA back

Very unnecessary piece of cricket by Rahane and he has thrown his wicket away. Sunil Gavaskar on air is very angry with the shot selection, says that he just came in and all he needed to do was rotate the strike. Fair point, sir. Duminy has another wicket in the kitty. He serves a loopy full ball on middle, Rahane runs down the track aiming for a big shot across the line but fails to reach the pitch of the delivery early. He ends up miscuing it completely in the air as his bat turns in his hands and Phehlukwayo backtracks from mid off to take a well-judged catch. A disappointed Rahane walks back and South Africa would like to build on this wicket.

Dhawan falls for 76

Dhawan throws it away! There was a hundred for the taking, but he has shut shop and let it pass. Tossed up around off, Dhawan gets down the track and looks to go big on the on side. Doesn't get the elevation that he wanted and ends up chipping it towards mid-wicket. Markram has stationed himself there and he takes a wonderful catch tumbling to his left. End of the 140-run association between Dhawan and Kohli, South Africa get a breakthrough against the run of play. Duminy the man with the golden arm, the first wicket by a Protea spinner in this series.

Another, another fifty for Kohli

4⃣6⃣th ODI half-century for the Indian captain Virat Kohli. #IND: 129/1 #SAvsIND pic.twitter.com/CUdtK9PwB3

— Wah Cricket (@ABPCricketHindi) February 7, 2018

Time for Dhawan to raise his bat

The Gabbar is back! What a commanding innings it has been. FIFTY No. 25 for Shikhar Dhawan and dare we say, he has outplayed the Indian captain both in strokeplay and in composure. 

Tahir comes into the attack, but there is no affect on Dhawan's timing, he puts front leg outside the line of off stump and meets the ball with brut force to sweep it past the deep square leg boundary for another four. IND: 93/1

50 up for India

A streaky four but Kohli would take it and so would India. That's the fifty for the visitors. Kohli has been edgy in this innings but the important thing for India is, he is still there with Dhawan going strong at the other end.

Boundary relief

Ngidi has to learn the One Day lengths quickly, otherwise he will be punished all the way. A short wide and wide delivery met with Dhawan's broad bat and then a thick outside results in the same. Two boundaries in the over and India have broken the deadlock.

Inside edge saves Kohli

One inside edge gets Rohit, the other saves Kohli. Big big disturbance in the snickometer, no need to look at whether the ball would have hit the stumps or not. Umpire Ian Gould has to reverse his decision to NOT OUT. His shake of the head suggests, he's not fully convinced there was an inside edge there. But for India's sake, Kohli is still there.

Rabada brings one back in sharply with the arm, Kohli for once, fails to connect his flick shot and the very loud appeal has got the assent of umpire of Ian Gould. Huge wicket for South Africa. But Kohli goes in for a chat with partner Dhawan, he will surely go for a review, the ball did appear to be sliding down the leg side a little and yes he signals for DRS. BIG MOMENT in the game.

Rabada strikes in first over

Rabada said South Africa are still in the series and he has walked the talk in the very first over of the thrid ODI. Pitches it up after softening up Rohit with a couple of bouncers. Rohit stays rooted to the crase and could not get the bat away in time, the ball touches the inside half of Rohit's bat and the debutant Klaasen grabs his first catch in international cricket. IND: 0/1

IND XI for 3rd ODI (UNCHANGED): RG Sharma, S Dhawan, V Kohli, A Rahane, MS Dhoni, K Jadhav, H Pandya, B Kumar, K Yadav, J Bumrah, Y Chahal

SA XI for 3rd ODI: H Amla, A Markram, H Klaasen (DEBUT), JP Duminy, D Miller, K Zondo , C Morris, A Phehlukwayo, K Rabada, L Ngidi (DEBUT), I Tahir.

Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, reckons that they were looking to bat first, as they wanted to change things up and see how they turn up. States that the wicket looks nice and hard, apart from expecting some assistance with the ball later. Says that they will look to make early inroads and put pressure on the opposition middle order, which is already under pressure. Asserts that wrist spinners are a usable commodity on any surface. Mentions about not letting go of the momentum that they have with them. Ends saying that they go in unchanged.

Aiden Markram, the South African skipper, reckons that although India chase well, their decision is based on using the conditions on offer. Adds that he expects the ball to do its bit initially. States that the guys have been working hard and it isn't fair to look too deep and put pressure upon themselves due to one collapse. Informs that there are two debutants in Heinrich Klaasen and Lungi Ngidi. The former will take the gloves in place of de Kock and the latter replaces Morne Morkel, he adds. Further adds that Andile Phehlukwayo comes in for Tabraiz Shamsi.

TOSS: South Africa captain Aiden Markram wins the toss and opts to field first, perhaps keeping in mind India's superb chasing record.

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the third ODI between India and South Africa at the picturesque Newlands, Cape Town. The odds are heavily in favour of the visitors, who are aiming a 3-0 lead and a lot will depend on the toss, specially with Newlands' record of assisting the seamers under lights.

The Preview

India will have their sights set on an unprecedented 3-0 lead when they take on a South African team, which has quite literally fallen apart due to injury blows, in the third ODI of the six-match series in Cape Town.

The visitors won the first two matches of the series in Durban and Centurion by six and nine wickets, respectively, dismantling the home side with consummate ease. Twice previously, India have managed to win two ODIs in a bilateral series in South Africa -- in 1992-93 and in 2010-11. In the latter instance, the visitors shot into a 2-1 lead, only to lose the five-match series 3-2 in the end. They had also lost 5-2 in the other instance.

But given the hosts' current travails, history repeating itself would be a major disaster for the Men in Blue. This is because the Proteas are beset with injury problems. AB de Villiers was ruled out before the first ODI, Faf du Plessis before the second (both suffered finger injuries).

And the list has only grown with Quinton de Kock (left wrist injury) ruled out before the third ODI. Cricket South Africa didn't name a replacement for him, and Heinrich Klaasen, who finished as the third highest run- getter in the domestic one-day tournament here, is expected to make his ODI debut. 

In a way, this could be a blessing in disguise for the hosts. De Kock has been out of form for a while now, failing to cross 50 even once in eight innings against India across both Tests and ODIs. Klaasen's late inclusion will mean that he is yet to be scarred by Indian wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, who have shared 13 wickets in the first two matches.