Jaiswal’s maiden ton the icing as India seal ODI series vs SA

The opener's 116* steers hosts to a nine wicket win in Vizag for a 2-1 series victory

- Sanjeev K Samyal

India's Yashasvi Jaiswal (L) and Virat Kohli celebrate winning the third ODI against South Africa at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

(PTI)

Yashasvi Jaiswal showed an excellent balance to his batting approach in a nascent ODI career, scoring his maiden century to steer India to a nine-wicket win over South ‘Africa and claim the three-game series 2-1 on Saturday.

Jaiswal was unbeaten on 116* (121b, 12x4, 2x6), in the company of Rohit Sharma (75 in an opening stand of 155 runs) and Virat Kohli for either half of his innings to make it an easy chase. Kohli scored a delightful 65* (45b, 6x4, 3x6) after completing his fifty off 40 balls as India thwarted SA’s hopes of completing a double after winning the Test series. India completed a thumping win with 10.1 overs left.

Tt was vintage stuff from senior pros Rohit and Kohli while Jaiswal toned down his aggression with focus on making it count. However, India had taken atight grip in the first half of the game.

Given the right conditions, Indian spinners can always make a difference in the subcontinent. They finally got the perfect opportunity after stand-in skipper KL Rahul broke India’s losing sequence at the toss. He had no hesitation to bowl first in the Visakhapatnam decider.