Rohit Sharma century guides India to first-ever series win in South Africa

Rohit Sharma slammed his 17th century as India defeated South Africa by 73 runs in the fifth ODI in Port Elizabeth to register their first-ever series win in South Africa.

Rohit Sharma roared back to form as he scored his 17th century to help India to a series win in South Africa in the fifth One-day International here at the St George’s Park on a cool and breezy Tuesday. (IND vs SA 5th ODI UPDATES)

Rohit Sharma celebrates his century during the fifth ODI between South Africa and India at the St George's Park Cricket Ground in Port Elizabeth. (BCCI)

Rohit had struggled in all the earlier matches of this series, failing to aggregate even 50 as India invariably began on the backfoot after losing an early wicket. This time it wasn’t him but Shikhar Dhawan who went back early as the only batsman to get multiple double centuries in ODIs played himself in. (IND vs SA 5th ODI SCORES)

Rohit had been troubled by the pace and the bounce of these wickets in the earlier games, not just in this series but on the previous tour, back in 2013. This time he buckled down, first letting Dhawan play the aggressive role and then getting himself into that mould.

The first boundary of his, off Morne Morkel, was a bit edgy as it went in the air, past the diving JP Duminy at point. He then came down the track and hit Kagiso Rabada for a six over long on to slay the nerves. That set him going and from there, in the company of Virat Kohli, he never looked back. The pitch was a bit slow and although it supported movement early on, the Indian batsmen were never really bothered as the Proteas bowling struggled to make use of it.

He put on a 48-run partnership with Dhawan and 105-run stand with Kohli.