South Africa managed to win by just four runs. © AFP
India's African safari wasn't as enjoyable as they would've expected after their first Test win in Centurion. They slipped to two successive losses in the Test series, lost the first two one-dayers in the three-match ODI series and were on the brink of a whitewash. Deepak Chahar almost pulled a rabbit out of the hat as India scored 55 runs between overs 43 and 47 with a brilliant counterattack of 54 off 34 balls from the pacer. He fell in the 48th over, but he had put India in a position to pull off the chase. However, with six runs needed in six balls, Yuzvendra Chahal went for the pull, only to be caught by David Miller as South Africa went home with a four-run win and a whitewash on Sunday (January 23), much to the disappointment of Chahar and India, who lost five games on the trot across formats.

As good as done and dusted were India at 231 for 7 in 43 overs before Chahar switched avatars and took on the bowlers. At that point, he was on 18 off 16; he thereafter belted Dwaine Pretorius for successive sixes to make a move on as him and Jasprit Bumrah added 55 off 31 balls for the eighth wicket. Chahar fell off the first ball of the 48th over to peg India back a tad. Eight runs were needed from 2 overs with two wickets in hand. Bumrah tried to clear the infield but found the fielder at mid-off. With 7 needed in 9, with one wicket in hand, the game came down to the last over. South Africa held their nerve slightly better in the end as India's familiar pattern came to hurt them.

Earlier, Quinton de Kock lit up Cape Town with a sensational century - his sixth against India - to lead South Africa towards a strong total. Right from ball one, he came out in attack mode, like he did in the previous ODI; he fell short of a century last game, but made the most of his start and notched up a stellar 130-ball 124, studded with 12 fours and two sixes. But De Kock's wicket brought an end to the 144-run stand for the fourth wicket as India were impressive with the ball later on and had done well to pick up 7-73 to restrict South Africa to 287 after they looked set to get to a total above 320 at one point.

South Africa had started well too with Lungi Ngidi ekeing out an edge off KL Rahul's bat early on. Once again, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli not just steadied the innings but built a solid base for India to work with in the chase as both scored respective fifties. Once Dhawan fell, the game went down a familiar pattern. Dhawan and Pant fell in the same over as India were pegged back. Kohli kept India in the chase with Shreyas Iyer with the pair adding 38. Kohli was livid when he got a leading edge for 65. The middle order was exposed once again but Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav kept India hunting.

Once they fell, though, South Africa would've thought they had the game in the bag, but they were in for a surprise as Chahar went for the assault. That said, 288 was a challenging target on this pitch, with the ball gripping and holding often, which let the pacers use their slower balls to good effect. It's how South Africa sealed the win eventually too with Andile Phehlukwayo and Lungi Ngidi returning three-wicket hauls.

India had made four changes coming into the final one-dayer, seeking a consolation win. Leaving out R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur and Venkatesh Iyer, they brought in Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Deepak Chahar. It didn't make too much of a difference after opting to bowl as South Africa got off to a steady start.

It was not, however, as good a start as they had in the previous game because they lost three wickets within 13 overs of which, Chahar had two in the powerplay and Temba Bavuma was run-out. Chahar got the ball to swing both ways, getting his lengths right and troubled the batsmen with seven overs on the trot, but de Kock was looking in good touch once again. Just when it looked like India were on top, de Kock and van der Dussen put their heads down and kept the runs coming. The bowlers bowled fuller to de Kock initially, but were disciplined thereafter with hardly anything over-pitched for a few overs, banging it in short and making it difficult to score. Van der Dussen almost chopped on off Prasidh, but they grew in confidence as the innings progressed.

The two set batsmen fell in successive overs, with van der Dussen having scored his second fifty in five innings at home to go with his two centuries. He fell for 52 off 59, and it was during that phase that made the difference with South Africa scoring 16 runs for the loss of their set batsmen. Miller kept India at bay with a 38-ball 39, while Pretorius chipped in with 20, but it was India's bowlers who shone through towards the end with regular wickets.

The changes India made paid off with Chahar and Prasidh sharing five wickets between them, restricting the damage that could've been done had the set pair gone on after having been on 212/3 after the 35th over. Chahar also almost pulled off a heist but it went wasn't to be in the thrilling dead-rubber.

Brief scores: South Africa 287 in 49.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 124, Rassie van der Dussen 52, David Miller 39; Deepak Chahar 2-53, Jasprit Bumrah 2-52, Prasidh Krishna 3-59) beat India283 in 49.2 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 61, Virat Kohli 65, Deepak Chahar 54; Lungi Ngidi 3-58, Andile Phehlukwayo 3-40) by 4 runs.