Belfast: India had South Africa on the mat but failed to tighten the noose as Jacques Kallis’ side posted a decent 148 for seven in 31 overs in the rain-truncated third and final one dayer here on Sunday.

India beat South Africa by six wickets with four balls to spare in the third and final ODI to clinch the series 2-1. Yuvraj Singh hit an unbeaten 59 in 82 balls and Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained not out on 14.

After reducing the opponents to 28 for four, India could not go for the kill and a 99-run stand between Justin Kemp (61) and Herschelle Gibbs (56) propped up the South African innings to a challenging total on a seaming track.

With the series levelled at 1-1, it all boiled down to the final match but due to rain and wet outfield, more than five hours were lost and the match was reduced to a 31-over-a-side contest.

After Rahul Dravid won a good toss and decided to field, South Africa ran into trouble straightway with comeback man Ajit Agarkar and Sourav Ganguly coming up with identical two-wicket bursts.

Keen to make his mark in the series after missing the first two matches with flu, Agarkar trapped in-form Morne van Wyk for a duck with his fifth delivery, which swung in after pitching just outside the off stump.

His second over too yielded a wicket with the gem of a delivery that hit the perfect length and swung the other way past the flailing blade of a bamboozled Jacques Kallis to hit the off stump. Like Van Wyk, the South African batting mainstay too did not trouble the scorer.

Agarkar’s first spell of 4-0-8-2 made impressive reading. South Africa could have been in further trouble with opener A.B. de Villiers (15) back in the pavilion but first it was umpire Aleem Dar and then Gautam Gambhir, who let Zaheer Khan down in the eventful fifth over.

Zaheer was breathing fire and induced a thick edge from De Villiers which nestled into Sachin Tendulkar’s safe hands in first slip. The entire Indian squad was celebrating but Dar was not amused and did not bother to consult fellow umpire Mark Benson either.

Sourav, however, ensured that the opener did not make the most of the lives he got. On a condition that suited his bowling, Sourav was in fact on a hat-trick after removing De Villiers and Jean-Paul Duminy (0) with successive deliveries.

De Villiers perished after a bat-pad dismissal, while Duminy was rapped on the pad by a slightly faster delivery after an attempted flick.

Kemp, however, foiled Sourav’s hat-trick bid even though he was not very convincing as he inside-edged it to fine leg. South Africa found itself in a morass at 28 for four inside 13 overs.