The fist pump from stand-in captain KL Rahul when the coin rolled in favour of India after 21 consecutive ODIs, showed how desperate they were for some toss luck. With dew leaving a huge imprint in the outcome of the previous two fixtures, where India had to bowl under lights, they had the opportunity to field first when conditions were best suited to bowl. And despite being a bowler short — Washington Sundar making way for Tilak Varma — Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav wrestled back the early initiative gained by South Africa to dismiss them for 270 in 47.5 overs.

For a major part of their innings, South Africa appeared to take the same road India had taken in the first two ODIs at Ranchi and Raipur. It brought out wonderful match-ups and the gamble that the teams were willing to take i

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