New Delhi: Rilee Rossouw's unbeaten ton and Dwaine Pretorius' three-wicket haul helped South Africa register a 49-run win over India here at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. India, however, went on to win the three-match T20I series 2-1.
Chasing a mammoth 228-run target in the absence of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, India got off to the worst possible start losing their skipper Rohit Sharma for a duck to Kagiso Rabada. In the next over Wayne Parnell got the wicket of Shreyas Iyer leg before wicket for 1 to leave India tottering at 4/2.
Opener Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik then struck a partnerhip of 41 runs. Their partnership was broken when Lungi Ngidi dismissed Pant for 27 off 14 balls as India lost their third wicket for 45.
In-form Suryakumar Yadav and Karthik then took India's total beyond the 50-run mark in 5.2 overs. Karthik continued to hit boundaries and sixes but the partnership did not last too long. The wicket-keeper batter was clean bowled for 46 off 21 balls by Keshav Maharaj.
In the next over Suryakumar was sent packing by Dwaine Pretorius for 8 with India losing half of their side for 86. Axar Patel and Harshal Patel took India's total beyond the triple-figure mark in 10.1 overs. But the partnership was broken as Harshal was dismissed by Ngidi.
Axar too was dismissed in the next over by Parnell, caught behind by wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock for 9. Four balls later Ravichandran Ashwin was sent packing for 2. Just when India looked down and out Deepak Chahar and Umesh Yadav showed some fight and hit some lusty blows and in the process take team's total beyond the 150-run mark in 16.3 overs.
The 48-run partnership was broken when Pretorius dismissed Chahar for 31 off 17 balls. The pacer struck for the third time as he got the tenth and final wicket of Mohammad Siraj in the 19th over for 5 and India were bowled out for 178. The Proteas registered a comprehensive 49-run win over the hosts while the three-match T20I series ended 2-1 in India's favour.
Earlier in the day, put into bat South Africa got off to a steady start as Quinton de Kock and skipper Temba Bavuma looked solid. However, India soon got the first breakthrough. Umesh Yadav dismissed Proteas skipper Bavuma for 3 off eight balls with the visitors' score at 30.
Quinton de Kock was then joined by Rilee Rossouw and the duo struck a partnership to take team's total beyond the 50-run mark in 6.2 overs. The de Kock-Rossouw duo shifted gears to take team's total triple-figure mark in just 10.1 overs, and in the process, the wicket-keeper batter notched up his half-century off 33 balls.
The 90-run partnership was broken when Shreyas Iyer ran out Quinton de Kock for 68 off 43 balls. Despite losing his partner Rossouw went on to score his fifty off just 27 balls and took his team's total beyond the 150-run mark in 14.4 overs.
Tristan Stubbs then joined 32-year-old Rossouw and the duo together notched up fifty runs in 26 balls. The visitors went past the 200-run mark in just 18.4 overs. Rossouw-Stubbs went on to score 87 runs for the third wicket. Deepak Chahar went on to break the partnership dismissing Stubbs for 23. Southpaw Rossouw went on to score his maiden T20I ton off just 48 balls. David Miller walked in to bat and scored 19 off 5 balls to take Proteas' total to a massive 227/3 in 20 overs.