India Seal ODI Series With Comfortable Victory Over South Africa
India cantered to a convincing nine-wicket victory in what can only be described as an anti-climactic end to the series in the third and final One Day International to wrap up the ODI series with a 2-1 victory.
After twenty successive losses at the coin toss, India finally won one as captain KL Rahul opted to field in the third and final One Day International at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. With dew playing a crucial factor in the previous two games, this came as no surprise.
Following injuries in the previous game to both Nandre Burger and Tony de Zorzi, the Proteas brought in Ryan Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman as replacements.
The Proteas opted to open with Rickelton partnering de Kock, leaving Aiden Markram to drop down the order despite his century in Raipur.
The option to open with Rickelton appeared to backfire as he fell off the bowling of Arshdeep Singh without troubling the scorers.
Temba Bavuma came in at number 3 and together with de Kock stabilised the innings as South Africa found runs hard to come by.
Once Prasidh Krishna was introduced to the attack, de Kock took a liking to him and attacked his bowling, accelerating the scorecard.
In the process, de Kock passed 1000 runs in ODI cricket in India – in just 21 innings – the third fastest for a visiting batter – and got to his 33rd ODI fifty in 42 balls.
Bavuma fell for 48 as he lost his battle with Ravindra Jadeja, smashing him for a couple of boundaries before being caught at point.
De Kock got to a well-played hundred, bringing it up in emphatic fashion – pulling Harshit Rana for six – off just 80 balls.
Before that milestone, Krishna fought back after a torrid opening spell, picking up the wickets of Matthew Breetzke and Aiden Markram before knocking over the stumps of de Kock for a superb 106 off 89 deliveries – with South Africa on 199/5.
Kuldeep Yadav cleaned up the Proteas middle to lower order, claiming the wickets of Brevis, Jansen, Bosch, and Ngidi – taking four wickets for 59 runs.
Keshav Maharaj offered some resistance with his 20 off 29 balls, but Krishna completed a superb comeback with the ball, bowling Ottniel Baartman with South Africa dismissed for 270, leaving India 271 to win the series.
Krishna would’ve been extremely proud of his comeback. He conceded 27 in his first two overs but had figures of four for 39 in his remaining 7.5 overs.
De Kock 106, Bavuma 48
Yadav 4/41, Krishna 4/66
Like South Africa, India began slowly with a measured approach – taking 61 balls to get their fifty but crucially, without a loss of a wicket.
While Yashasvi Jaiswal was circumspect, Rohit Sharma went about his innings in typical fashion as he set about upsetting the rhythm of the Protea bowlers.
Rohit Sharma brought about yet another fifty as India surpassed the 100-mark in the 20th over.
Jaiswal followed suit, showing great wherewithal and playing more fluently as he grew into his innings with the experience of Sharma to guide him from the other end. His 75-ball fifty was met with welcome relief.
As another ton looked a certainty for Sharma, he couldn’t resist slog sweeping Maharaj but only succeeded in top-edging as he was caught by Breetzke. Sharma was out for a superbly played 75 off 73 as it brought an end to the 155-run opening stand.
Virat Kohli came to the wicket with India in a commanding position, and he had the pleasure of watching Jaiswal get to his maiden ODI ton.
While he began slowly, it took Jaiswal just 36 balls to move from 50 to 100 – as he became only the sixth Indian batter to score a century in each of the three international formats.
Kohli continued his sumptuous form as he reached yet another fifty and ended the game with consecutive fours off Lungi Ngidi to bring an end to a game that promised much but gave a little in the way of competitiveness.
Jaiswal 116 not out, Sharma 75, Kohli 65 not out
Maharaj 1/44
