Pooja Vastrakar and Radha Yadav starred with ball in hand as India beat South Africa by 10 wickets in the third T20I at the M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.

The victory helped the hosts level the three-match series 1-1 after the second match was abandoned due to rain on Sunday.

Opting to chase once again after winning the toss, the Indian bowlers were right on the money unlike the first two matches of the series.

Off-spinner Shreyanka Patil struck the first blow, forcing a miscued shot from South African captain Laura Wolvaardt to have her caught at mid-off in the fourth over.

Vastrakar (4-13) removed the in form Marizanne Kapp with a bouncer in the next over as the visitors scored 40/2 in the powerplay.

Deepti Sharma then landed the biggest blow as she outfoxed Tazmin Brits – the leading run scorer of the series – to leave South Africa reeling at 45/3 in the eighth over.

The Proteas women never recovered and Vastrakar piled on further misery by prizing out both Anneke Bosch and Nadine de Klerk in the eleventh over.

Yadav then struck thrice to finish with figures of 3-6 in three overs with a maiden before Vastrakar took the final wicket to bowl South Africa for just 84.

Later, India coasted along the chase as Smriti Mandhana (54*) and Shafali Verma (27*) added an unbeaten 88-run stand in just 10.5 overs.

Mandhana brought up her half-century with a six off de Klerk with the final ball of the match as India levelled the series.