Kuldeep picks up four as Proteas destroyed

Kuldeep Yadav has led an inspired spin bowling display by India, picking up four wickets to help the hosts gain a convincing seven-wicket victory in the decisive third and final one-day international in Delhi.

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep finished with 4-18 as an understrength South Africa were dismissed for 99.

It was South Africa's lowest total in the 50-over format against India as the touring side were bundled out in just 27.1 overs after India won the toss and opted to field.

Fellow tweakers Washington Sundar (2-15) and Shahbaz Ahmed (2-32) added to South Africa's misery against the turning ball.

Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj picked up the remaining two wickets for the hosts as South Africa lost their last six wickets for 33 runs. 

Only Heinrich Klaasen (34), Janneman Malan (15) and Marco Jansen (14) made double figures.

In reply India lost stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan, run out for eight in the seventh over, but with Shubman Gill off to a flier they were already into the 40s.

Gill went on to make 49 from 55 balls before he was trapped leg before with India one boundary from victory.

Shreyas Iyer (28 not out) provided good support finishing with a six as India won with more than 30 overs to spare. That meant the whole match lasted less than one 50-over innings.

"I am proud of the boys and the way they played in this series," Dhawan said. "They carried responsibility and showed maturity. We showed a lot of character after (defeat in) the first game. The pitches were tough, but we did well. And the bowlers were clinical today."

The tourists were without captain Temba Bavuma, stand-in skipper Keshav Maharaj and wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi with illness. In addition Kagiso Rabada was rested

Defeat leaves them still in danger of failing to reach the 2023 Cricket World Cup through automatic qualification. They are 11th with only the top eight going straight through to the tournament while other teams face a qualifier event.

South Africa won the first match of the series by nine runs but India levelled with a seven-wicket victory in the second.

India's T20 World Cup squad is already in Australia, and will play warm-up matches against a WA XI (Thursday at the WACA) and Australia (next Monday at the Gabba), while South Africa's team now head down under.

Thursday's match against WA is expected to be live streamed after fans were left disappointed the WACA had not arranged streaming for the opening fixture, while a crowd of more than 2000 turned out for the practice match.

South Africa's two warm-up matches are next week, when they face New Zealand (Monday) and Bangladesh (Wednesday), both at Allan Border field.

India's T20 World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh. Standby Players: Mohammad Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.

Western Australia squad: Ashton Turner (c), Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Sam Fanning, Aaron Hardie, Nick Hobson, Matt Kelly, Hamish McKenzie, David Moody, Jhye Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Andrew Tye.