The left-hander blasted an unbeaten 100 off 48 balls (7 fours, 8 sixes) to help South Africa amass 227 for three after they were asked to bat first. There were also more runs for Quinton de Kock, whose 68 off 43 balls (6 fours, 4 sixes) saw him join the 2000 T20I run club.

The home side struggled in their reply thanks to an excellent showing by Kagiso Rabada (1/24) and the pick of the bowlers Dwaine Pretorius (3/26) – eventually falling to 178 all out with nine balls to spare. It meant that the South Africans at least managed a consolatory win from the three-game sequence that was taken 2-1 by the hosts.

The two teams are now due to begin a One-Day International (ODI) series in Lucknow, starting on Thursday. And the Proteas can at least take some confidence now into those games on the back of this emphatic win in the central Indian city.

On a good batting wicket and at a venue with short boundaries, they lost the toss and were asked to take the first strike. Captain Temba Bavuma’s struggles following his return from injury, unfortunately continued as he could only manage three before chipping Umesh Yadav to short midwicket with the score on 30.

Rossouw and De Kock, however, combined nicely for a 90-run second wicket stand that put South Africa in a strong position by the time it ended in the 13th over. Wicketkeeper De Kock was the player to depart after joining David Miller as only the second man from his country to breach the 2000-run mark in T20Is during his innings.

In fact, it was Miller (19 not out) and Tristan Stubbs (23) that helped Rossouw get their side beyond 200, with the former thumping three of the last four balls for maximums.

It was then over to India to chase, but they lost opener Rohit Sharma to the excellent Rabada second ball, with Shreyas Iyer (1) following to Wayne Parnell (2/41) in the next over. Rishabh Pant managed a quick 27 until he was sent packing by Lungi Ngidi (2/51), while Keshav Maharaj (2/34) accounted for top-scorer Dinesh Karthik (46).

And when the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav (8) was expertly caught by Stubbs off Pretorius, India’s chances looked bleak at 86 for five. So it proved with the rest of the team – barring Deepak Chahar (31) – offering little and the hosts were eventually dismissed in the 19th over giving South Africa a comfortable win.