India defeated South Africa by 124 runs in the third ODI taking an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the six-match series here on Wednesday.

Wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav bagged four wickets each.

Virat Kohli reaffirmed his status as an ODI great with an unbeaten 160 off 159 balls on a challenging surface, propelling India to 303 for six.

Shikhar Dhawan too stood out with a fluent 76 off 63 balls.

South Africa started the chase on a promising note with captain Aiden Markram (32) and JP Duminy (51) sharing a 78-run stand for the second wicket.

But most of their runs came against the pacers and when Indian spinners got into the act, it was a familiar story as South Africa surrendered to Yuzvendra Chahal (4/46) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/23) to end way behind at 170 all out in 40 overs.

The South African batsmen failed to pick India’s wrist-spinners, as was the case in the first two ODIs.

The slide began with the fall of Markram, who was stumped by MS Dhoni after getting beaten by a flighted delivery from Yadav.

It happened to be Dhoni’s 400th dismissal in ODIs as he became only the fourth wicket-keeper to reach that milestone in ODIs.