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India's ODI juggernaut kept rolling as they won the sixth and final ODI comprehensively by 8 wickets at Centurion on Friday.
The Men in Blue won the dead rubber with 107 balls remaining, finally sealing the six-match series by a margin of 5-1.
After India restricted South Africa to 204 all-out courtesy Shardul Thakur's 4/52, Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 129* in 96 balls as the visitors won the inconsequential tie in 32.1 overs.
The ODI series will now be followed by a three-match T20I series which begins at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on Sunday, February 18.
Now, let us have a look at the factors that led to India's win.
#5 South Africa posting an inadequate target
India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl first at Centurion. South African batsmen did not learn from their past mistakes and kept throwing away their wickets at regular intervals.
Openers Aiden Markram (24) and Hashim Amla (10) could not provide the much-required impetus to the hosts and South Africa were reeling at 43/2 after 10 overs.
AB de Villiers (30) and Khaya Zondo (54) stabilized the ship for a while but they were also not able to convert their starts to big scores.
Heinrich Klaasen (22), Andile Phehlukwayo (34) and Morne Morkel (20) then dragged the Proteas past the 200-run mark as South Africa posted a modest total of 204 in 46.5 overs.
India made a light work of hosts' inadequate total and chased it down in 32.1 overs.
#4 Virat Kohli's captaincy
While South Africa floundered in the absence of their regular skipper Faf du Plessis, India flourished in the ODI series under the leadership of Virat Kohli.
The 29-year-old, who possesses excellent mental strength, orchestrated a turn-around for his team after they were beaten 2-1 in the three-match Test series.
Chasing 205 on Friday, Kohli brought up his 35th ODI ton as India crossed the finish line in 32.1 overs.
Earlier Kohli had won the toss and invited South Africa to bat first, he deployed his bowlers at the right times and continued to pile on the pressure on the hosts' batsmen by keeping their scoring rate under check and claiming wickets at regular intervals, eventually dismissing them for 204 in 46.5 overs.
Kohli, who became the first Indian skipper to win an ODI series in South Africa, led by an example and with a series tally of 558, recorded most runs by a captain in a bilateral ODI series.
#3 Shardul Thakur's performance
Shardul Thakur, who was widely criticised for donning Sachin Tendulkar's jersey number 10 on his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in September 2017, became the first Indian pacer to take a 3-wicket haul in the six-match ODI series.
Pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah struggled to claim wickets in the series as wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal took their wicket tallies for the series to 17 and 16 respectively.
Thakur, who played his first game of the series in place of Bhuvneshwar on Friday, added to South Africa's woes by claiming four wickets for 52 runs as the hosts were bowled out for 204 at SuperSport Park.
The Mumbai fast bowler, in only his third international appearance, dismissed both South African openers, Hashim Amla and Aiden Markram, inside the first ten overs.
He followed up with the wicket of Farhaan Behardien in the middle overs before finishing the innings by catching Andile Phehlukwayo off his own bowling.
#2 South Africa's bowlers being ineffective
When you are defending a paltry total of 204, your bowlers need to step up, but South Africa struggled in that department too.
Being put in to bat South Africa's batsmen could not show any resistance as the hosts were bundled out for 204 in 46.5 overs.
When India came out to bat, Lungi Ngidi removed openers, Rohit Sharma (15) and Shikhar Dhawan (18), early, but the hosts failed to stop run machine Virat Kohli (129*) and his able partner Ajinkya Rahane (34*) as the visitors won the match by 8 wickets with 107 balls remaining.
Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo and Imran Tahir remained wicketless and conceded runs at an economy of around 6 or more per over.
#1 Virat Kohli's rich run of form continues
India skipper Virat Kohli scored his third ton of the six-match series, a fourth of the ongoing tour to South Africa and 35th in ODIs as the visitors won by 8 wickets on Friday, sealing the series by a margin of 5-1 on Friday
Kohli became the fastest to reach the 17,000-run mark in international cricket and with 558 runs in 6 matches, he became the first batsman to score 500 runs in the history of bilateral ODI series, going past Rohit Sharma's 491 against Australia in 2013.
The 29-year-old also topped the list of most runs by a captain in a bilateral ODI series, going past Australia's George Bailey (478).
For his mind-boggling numbers, Kohli was befittingly declared the Man of the Series.
"It was a day where I felt really good. Last game, I was not in the right kind of mindset. This is a beautiful place to bat under lights. That's the idea behind bowling first. I like setting up for the short ball. It was a blessing in disguise, and they kept bowling short. I think the pitch got better to bat on under lights. It has been a rollercoaster till now. People who are close to me deserve a lot of credit. My wife has kept me going throughout the tour. I am grateful for that. Obviously, you want to lead from the front, and that's a wonderful feeling. I have got eight or nine years left in my career and I want to make the most of every day. It's a blessing that I am healthy and getting to captain my country. They have shown great character - especially the two young spinners. Shikhar at the top, Rohit. The way the series went augurs well for us. We're looking forward to the T20s. The tour is not over yet. As a team, we felt we did not play with the right frame of mind in the first two Tests. Come Johannesburg, we made up our mind that we will not take a backward step. After losing the Test series, I was talking to you. I am here taking to you after winning the ODI series," he said at the post-match conference.
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