Images from the third One-Day International between South Africa and India, in Cape Town, on Sunday.
India failed to avoid a series whitewash against a South African team in transition despite Deepak Chahar's scintillating 34-ball 54 after losing the third One-day International by four runs, in Cape Town, on Sunday.
The defeat ended a disastrous tour of the 'Rainbow Nation'.
Asked to take first strike, South Africa were all out for 287 after Quinton de Kock's attacking hundred and Rassie van der Dussen's fluent half-century.
In reply, India were all out for 283 in 49.2 overs, completely messing up a chase that should have been completed smoothly.
Having taken two wickets with the ball, Chahar blazed away with the bat and hit five fours and two sixes, but his effort was not enough in the end.
All in all, the limited-overs series turned out to be one of the most disappointing outings for India in recent years, especially after having blanked the Proteas in their backyard in 2018.
They began the tour on a rousing note, winning the opening Test by 113 runs but lost the plot thereafter, failing miserably to challenge the South Africans.
Looking to restore some pride in their last match of the tour, India overhauled their playing eleven by making as many as four changes, bringing in Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Deepak Chahar and Prasidh Krishna.
The ones to miss out were Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Venkatesh Iyer and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The changes did not bring about a change in fortunes as Suryakumar was dismissed for 39 off 32 balls.
India were last clean swept in an away ODI series by New Zealand (0-3) in 2020, under Virat Kohli.
Incidentally, Rohit Sharma was absent from that series too, with a hamstring injury.
On Sunday, Kohli scored 65 off 84 balls, while opener Shikhar Dhawan struck a 73-ball 61, both scoring their second fifties of the three-match series.
It should have been India's game as it seemed for a good part but the side simply bungled it in the closing stages despite being well ahead on the asking rate thanks to Chahar's blitzkrieg.
Earlier, the visitors staged a late fightback to bowl out South Africa for 287 after opener de Kock's attacking century and Rassie van der Dussen continued his sublime form with a 52-run knock.
De Kock struck 124 off 130 balls and added 144 runs for the fourth wicket with van der Dussen before India put the brakes on the home team's scoring by sending back both the batters in quick succession.
After that, David Miller contributed a 38-ball 39 before the innings ended with a ball to spare.
South Africa went into the match with an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
With his sixth ODI century, de Kock equalled AB de Villiers's record of scoring the most hundreds against India by a South African.
K L Rahul's decision to bowl first worked straightaway as Deepak Chahar (2 for 53) had opener Janneman Malan (1) caught behind with just eight runs on the board at the start of the third over.
It was a big wicket for the Indians as Malan came into the inconsequential final ODI on the back of a neat 91-run knock in the Proteas' series-clinching second ODI win at Paarl.
Credit for that must go to Chahar who got his fullish delivery to move away after angling it in, leaving Malan clueless.
A direct hit from India skipper Rahul from mid-off ended his in-form counterpart Temba Bavuma's brief stay in the middle as the batter failed to reach the non-striker's end in time.
Bavuma, making his way back to the dressing room for eight runs, was another big break for India as the South Africa captain had scored a century in the opening fixture and also looked solid in the second outing.
After bagging two wickets in the powerplay, India seemed to be headed in the right direction when Aiden Markram's attempted pull shot failed to clear substitute fielder Ruturaj Gaikwad in the deep square leg region, leaving the hosts at 70 for 3 in the 13th over.
However, the duo of De Kock and Van der Dussen got together and forged an excellent partnership, mixing caution with aggression, to deflate the Indian bowling attack.
De Kock moved into the 90s with two boundaries and then produced a flat-batted six straight over Prasidh Krishna's (3 for 59) head.
But he got stuck on 99 for a while before finally getting to the three-figure mark by driving Shreyas Iyer to the left of sweeper cover for two runs.
Van der Dussen hit Yuzvendra Chahal through mid-wicket for four, as the two upped the ante with their vast range of strokes on all sides of the wicket.
But just when it looked like the two batters were taking the game away from India, the visitors got rid of both.
De Kock got out to a Jasprit Bumrah (2 for 52) short ball, giving Shikhar Dhawan a simple catch at deep square leg, and then, Chahal had van der Dussen brilliant caught by Iyer in the deep.
