Yadav finished as the highest wicket taker in the ODI series, which India won 2-1, with nine scalps to his name in three fixtures at an average of 20.77 and best figures of 4/41.
India's luck was finally on the side with the toss, and they made full use of it by putting the Proteas to bat first. Besides a century from Quinton de Kock, nothing was really going for the Proteas as both Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav took four wickets each.
A sensational maiden ODI ton by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and stunning half-centuries from senior stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli crushed South Africa, with Team India chasing 271 runs in just 39.5 overs with nine wickets in hand.
During the Visakhapatnam ODI, the Proteas were cruising at 199/4 in the 33rd over, with wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock having reigstered his 23rd ODI ton. Dewald Brevis and Marco Jansen continued the attack, but Kuldeep picking them in the same over changed the game, reducing SA from 23
The Proteas scored 270 runs in 47.5 overs, with Quinton playing a fantastic knock of 106 runs off 89 balls, which included eight fours and six maximums. For India, Kuldeep Yadav and Prasidh Krishna picked four wickets each.
South Africa, ahead of the third ODI against India, suffered a significant blow as seamer Nandre Burger and batter Tony de Zorzi have been ruled out of the fixture due to injury.
India is 1-0 up in the series heading to Raipur after the exploits of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav downed an Aiden Markram-led Proteas unit, which fell 17 runs short of a run-chase of 350 runs, despite fighting knocks from Matthew Breetzke, Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch.
The second ODI between India and South Africa will take place at Raipur on Wednesday. India is 1-0 up in the series. The first ODI at Ranchi witnessed memorable performances from Virat Kohli (135), KL Rahul (60) and Rohit Sharma (58) with the bat, taking India to 349/8. After being down 11/3
Team India players were full of praise for Virat Kohli after his scintillating century guided India to a 17-run win over South Africa in the first ODI in Ranchi. Kohli's 135 off 120 balls, his 52nd ODI hundred, set the tone for India's strong start to the series, and his teammates spoke open
Be it the 'Ro-Ko' show, the signature fighting spirit of South Africans or Kuldeep Yadav's spin web, the crowd at Ranchi was a witness to this all during the first ODI of the three-match series.
The 'Ro-Ko' carnival continued from where it left off in Sydney and enthralled the Ranchi crowd, with Virat scoring his 52nd ODI ton and Rohit smashing the record for most ODI sixes. Despite a fiery new ball spell from Harshit Rana, the Proteas managed to pull themselves back in the game fro