India T20 series ratings v SA: Karthik and Pandya get 9, Pant disappoints

India entered the five-match T20 series against a full-strength South Africa as the clear underdogs in the absence of captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah.

After losing the first two T20s fairly easily, it looked like the Proteas might hand stand-in captain Rishabh Pant a whitewash in his first big assignment as skipper. But the Indians stuck to their playing XI and won the next two T20s comfortably - by margins of 48 and 82 runs.

Batsmen Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and the returning Dinesh Karthik hit form at just the right time, while seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel made the most of their variations and control to keep India in the contest.

The final and series-deciding T20 in Bengaluru was washed out after less than four overs of play, which meant both teams walked away with a bunch of positives and some issues to sort.

Player ratings of India's players in the series can be seen in the picture gallery above. To view the next image, click on the arrows or swipe if on a mobile device.