India's challenging tour had started at this very ground on January 5 and it culminated with a convincing win, which came in the absence of skipper Virat Kohli who did not play today's match due to stiff back.
India got a flourishing start with Suresh Raina (43 off 27) clobbering South African bowlers but the hosts succeeded in straight-jacketing the batsmen by taking the pace off the ball as visitors settled for 172 for seven.
Home skipper JP Duminy (55) and debutant Christiaan Jonker (49) showed stomach for fight but their charge came too late.
India had recorded a dominating 5-1 win series win in the One-dayers and thus the team stamped its class in the white-ball cricket after losing the Test series 1-2.
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But the visitors never really hit fifth gear and the innings was patchy throughout as compared to the previous two games.
Earlier, put into bat for the third consecutive time in this T20Is series, Rohit Sharma (11) was off the blocks quickly taking 13 runs off Chris Morris (2-43) first over.
Junior Dala (3/35) though got him out for the third time in three matches, trapping Rohit lbw on the third ball of his first over. The batsman chose not to review even as the umpire did check for a no ball.
South Africa changed their bowling around quite a bit and JP Duminy (0-22) bowled a tight first spell that dropped Indias run-rate down to 8.5/over before the half-stage of their innings.
It also didnt help that Raina holed out off Tabraiz Shamsi (1-31) and was caught at long on.
Dhawan wasnt timing the ball too well, and couldnt make a tall score despite gaining two lives. Shamsi had dropped him twice, on nine in the sixth over off Morris at short third man and then at 34 in the 13th over off Aaron Phangiso (0/13).
The duo put on 32 runs for the third wicket before Pandey was caught in the deep off Dala in the 14th over. It became a quick double-blow as Dhawan too departed 12 balls later, run-out off Dala as he was involved in a mix-up with Hardik Pandya (21 off 17 balls).
Pandya had been sent up to provide acceleration to the innings but it never really came as he and MS Dhoni (12 off 11 balls) pushed the score past 150 in the 19th over. But a flurry of wickets came late in the innings.
Chasing 173 for victory, South Africa opted for a new ploy and sent David Miller (24) to open the innings. They didnt get off to a great start though, with in-form Reeza Hendricks (7) skying a catch off Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-24).
Kumar and the returning Jasprit Bumrah (1-39) held things tight in their initial spells, while even Shardul Thakur (1-35) kept control of the scoring rate. So much so, the Proteas only managed to score 25 for one in the first six overs.
Raina picked up the wicket of Miller just before the half-way mark, as the batsman was caught slogging in the deep. The big moment came when Hardik Pandya (1-22) dismissed Heinrick Klaasen (7) cheaply as Kumar took a sharp catch at mid-off.
Duminy then took the onus on himself and started hitting out. Axar Patel (0-16) was reserved for special attention and he proved expensive in the only over he bowled as Duminy scored his 11th T20I half-century off 38 balls.
But the debutant had other plans as he launched a measured attack on the Indian bowling. With 53 needed off 18 balls, he took 18 runs off Thakurs 18th over and then smacked Bumrah for another 16 in the penultimate over, putting up 51 runs off just 22 balls with Ferhaan Behardien (15 not out).
The equation came down to 19 off the last over, but Kumar held things tight and bowled India to a series win.
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