South Africa achieved the joint-highest target in the history of ODIs in India by surpassing the target of 359 runs and registering a four-wicket win in Naya Raipur.
Aiden Markram scored 110 from the top of the order, while Matthew Britzke and Dewald Brewis both scored half-centuries as the tourists defeated India with four balls to spare.
Virat Kohli and Ruturaj Gaikwad both scored centuries in the home team’s innings, but after closing at 358-6, they were unable to defend their score as South Africa posted the joint-sixth highest chase in the history of this format to level the three-match series 1-1.
India lost the toss for the 20th consecutive time as KL Rahul’s team was put into bat by their opponents, but would have been confident of victory after Kohli and Gaikwad stitched a 195-run partnership for the third wicket.
Kohli extended his lead at the top of the ODI century scoring charts, scoring 135 in the series opener, his 53rd century in the format, while Gaikwad’s 105 was his first three-figure score in 50-over internationals.
Gaikwad was caught by Tony De Zorzi off the bowling of Marco Jensen, while Kohli was caught by Markram off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi on 102, before Rahul finished India’s innings strongly with an unbeaten 66.
South Africa lost Quinton de Kock for eight runs in the fifth over of their reply, caught by Washington Sundar off Arshdeep Singh, but Markham made partnerships of 101 with captain Temba Bavuma (46) and 70 with Bretzke (68).
Markram was caught by Gaikward at the end of Harshit Rana’s 30th over, but Brewis reached the crease after scoring 54 runs in 34 balls.
The 22-year-old was dismissed when he dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav, before Britzke and Marco Janssen were dismissed by Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep in the space of five balls.
But Corbin Bosch controlled South Africa’s nerves by scoring an unbeaten 29, including a match-winning four, from 15 balls, helping his side reach 362-6 and seal a remarkable win.
The series will conclude in Visakhapatnam on Saturday before the five-match T20 series.