India wrapped up the series 2-1 with a convincing 9-wicket win over South Africa in Visakhapatnam. Opting to bowl first, India’s spin maestro Kuldeep Yadav and pace sensation Prasidh Krishna combined to restrict South Africa to 270. Quinton de Kock’s brilliant century had given the Proteas a solid start, but India’s bowlers applied the brakes hence they were restricted under 270 runs, something that in the early stages of the match looked inevitable. Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav and the pacer Prasidh Krishna claiming four wickets each.

Chasing a modest 271, India’s top order was in top form. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a sensational maiden ODI ton, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli added to the momentum. The partnership between Jaiswal and Kohli steered India to a comfortable victory, finishing the game with 61 balls to spare.

And with 360 watt smile, Captain KL Rahul pick up the series trophy, proudly.

The camera zoom to SA Captain Temba Bavuma who is calm and composed as always. Captain KL Rahul steps to the Indian winning team standing behind the winners hoarding. Hand over the trophy to Yashawi Jaiswal who lift it high to the sky with a confident smile and the entire team proudly pose for the cameras. The icon Virat Kohli is busy entertaining which draws big smiles from teammates. Afterwards the coach and the support staff join for the photo sessions.

KL Rahul | India captain:

The first was the toss, I don’t think the team has looked at me and smiled so much and have been more proud of me for doing anything other than winning this toss. Yeah, it was really crucial. You can see how the ground is at the moment. We got tough conditions in the first two games. So, it was good to give the bowlers a break in a wet outfield. On the surface It was still a really good wicket,
what we were able to do was pick up wickets in bunches.

And we know with teams that go so hard, it can either be a 400 chase or sometimes play one too many shot and get out and that’s what happened. We were able to squeeze in the middle. Prasidh picked up those two or three wickets in a spell which was really crucial. And then Kuldeep coming in, picking two wickets in an over. So, in ODI cricket, that’s how you try and contain teams.

That’s how you can win games of cricket – picking up wickets. That’s the only way you can stop teams. The way he (de Kock) was batting, when he get out, it was 180 or something and he was already batting on 120. It shows that the set batter obviously felt the wicket was a bit different. For guys coming in, it was much harder. So, it was a really crucial wicket at that point.

Commentator : Happy with the series?

Yeah, that’s most pleasing thing about the series is how we’ve been able to hold our nerve and how we’ve been able to handle the pressure. In all the games, the batters from South Africa have been able to come in with that sort of an intent to come and put our bowlersunder pressure. And the bowlers have really held their nerve. One result that didn’t go our way. But like I said, in the toss, we’re not really
upset or not really thinking too much about it. Because I think the stuff that we’ve been doing, the planning that we’ve done and the processes that they’ve followed and they’ve been consistent with that. So, today was one instance where doing the same thing paid off.

Virat Kohli | Player of the Series:

Honestly, playing the way I have in the series is the most satisfying thing for me. I feel really free in my mind. I haven’t played like this in 2-3 years. I know when I can bat like that in the middle, it helps the team a long way. Makes me confident, any situation in the middle, I can handle that and bring it in favor of the team. When you play for that long – 15-16 years, you do doubt yourself. Especially as a batter when one mistake can get you out.

It’s a whole journey of getting better and getting better as a person along the way. It improves you as a person and it improves temperament as well. I’m just glad that I’m still able to contribute to the team.
When I play freely, I know I can hit sixes. There’s always levels you can always unlock. The first one at Ranchi – because I hadn’t played a game since Australia. Just how your energy is on the day, Ranchi is very special for me and I’m very grateful as to how these three games have gone.

It’s always brought the best of us – that’s what we want to play for. When it’s 1-1, we want to do something special for the team. That’s why we have played for the team for so long. Just happy that both of us continue to do it for so long.

Yashaswi Jaiswal | Player of the Match:

Commentator : Big burden off the chest on registering his maiden ODI hundred?

Yes, of course. I really enjoyed it.

I’m really grateful and blessed. (On his chat with Rohit while batting) We have been chatting a lot about how we can play and how we can set the target and what tempo we can play. So, I’m trying to understand. I had starts in last two games but I couldn’t convert.

So, we have been speaking how we can convert this and how we balance this inning. I was just thinking how I can balance the inning. So, sometimes I need to be attacking and sometimes I was thinking, okay, maybe I’ll take a single or I’ll run the game. So, that was my plan and it was pretty good. I have to control my thoughts on where I can play, what shot I can play and how I can play as deep as possible. And with keeping that in my mind that if it requires, I need to go after the bowlers.

Virat paaji, the minute he came, he started playing a lot of shots and we kept chatting as well. He kept giving me small targets that I need to focus on. So, it was helping me towards my goal as well. So, I really enjoyed it.

Temba Bavuma | South Africa captain:

We would have wanted to make it a lot more exciting today. From a batting point of view, we didn’t have score runs. It tends to get easier under lights. Probably should have been smarter as we gifted wickets. The Indian team showed their quality – kudos to them.

We could have been a lot more smarter, if you look the first two ODIs, we did that.
Probably today, the conditions were different. You never want to get bowled out in a 50-over game. Couple of starts, Quinton got his 100 and I did but fell. We have definitely grown, we speak a lot about how we want to play. India have quality spinners and it’s never easy to put them under pressure. For large parts of the series we did that. I think if there were 10 boxes, we ticked 6 or 7 of them.

Pacer Prasidh Krishna:

Commentator : On his turnaround after getting punished in his first 2 overs?

It was really hard for me because there were a couple of really poor balls and a couple of really good shots. I actually sat back and then thought, ‘what’s going on, what’s the way for me to get back?’ I had to come back in, I had to bowl my overs and that’s the good thing about cricket for us as well.

If you have a bad spell, you always get another spell to come in and all that I thought was, bring the stumps in play, try and make sure I don’t give them any room or length to get under and it kind of worked out.

Commentator : Conditions more bowling-friendly today?

I would say so, yes, but then I wouldn’t really blame it on the dew or the pitch being any harder in the last couple of games as professionals, I think we are expected to face tough challenges and as bowlers, we would always want to overcome them. A lot of credit goes to Arshdeep and Harshit the way they started. Harshit also, when he came back in that spell, he made sure he kept it really quiet, didn’t really try a lot of things and that was the pressure in itself and then for Kuldeep to come on and pick those wickets …

Overall, if you look at the three games, I think we have done well as a bowling unit. I was under a bit of pressure definitely after the last game. The talk was just about what went wrong, what can we do better and it was pretty clear because I know what I can do, I know the areas that I can bowl. It’s just about turning up on that day and making sure you keep them simple, be calm and give yourself the best chance to execute them.

The batting has always been good, they have been batting really well and for us to do it in the way that we did today is special. It was due that Rohit had to get a bog score and Yashasvi as well, he has been working hard in the nets and all of us know what the King can do.

It’s good to be having such good batters on our side.

India vs South Africa 3rd ODI

Indian skipper KL Rahul won the toss and opted to bowl first against South Africa’s Temba Bavuma in the last match of the three-match ODI series at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Saturday 3rd Dec 2025.

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI):

Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock (W), Temba Bavuma (C), Matthew Breetzke, Aiden Markram, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman

India (Playing XI):

Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, KL Rahul (C & W/C), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna

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