Quick guide:
South Africa vs India
The third and final ODI of the three-match ODI series between South Africa and India was played at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on January 23 and the hosts went on to beat the visitors by 4 runs to take the series 3-0.
After winning the toss, team India chose to field first on a fresh Newlands wicket. They also made four changes in the playing XI while there was only one change for South Africa.
Match Summary
Proteas openers Quinton de Kock and Janneman Malan came on to start the innings. Deepak Chahar led the way for team India with the new ball as India got two quick wickets of Janneman Malan and skipper Temba Bavuma in the first powerplay. Aiden Markram too couldn’t hold on for too long and was eventually dismissed by Chahar.
While Proteas were losing batters on one end, in-form Rassie Van der Dussen joined de Kock to stabilize South Africa’s innings. The pair went on to stitch a 100+ run stand to lay the foundation for a competitive total in the first innings. In that process both players got to their milestones, first QDK scored his first hundred of the series, on the other hand, Rassie continued his good run of form to get to another fifty in the series.
But when it looked like South Africa would get a big score with 2 set batters in, India fought back with two quick wickets in the 36th and 37th over to push South Africa on the backfoot. David Miller and Dwaine Pretorius took the charge and helped the hosts reach 287 in the 49.5 overs.
Watch: South Africa vs India (highlights)
In reply, India got off to a horrible start losing captain KL Rahul early in the powerplay. But then the ever-reliable experienced duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli made things difficult for the Proteas with a 98 run 2nd wicket partnership. Both batters scored fifties to keep India on track to chase the total. However, they couldn’t convert their fifties into big scores.
The stand was broken by South Africa’s golden arm Andile Phehlukwayo, who got the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan. Phehlukwayo dismissed Rishabh Pant for a golden duck in the same over. Things started to fall apart when well set Kohli was caught out for the second time off Keshav Maharaj’s bowling.
Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer started to rebuild the innings but as they were settling in, the Proteas again fought back again with 2 wickets and India found themselves in a miserable position. When everyone thought the game was over, Deepak Chahar blasted a quickfire fifty and was all set to finish the game before he lost his calm and miscued a shot off Lungi Ngidi’s bowling to set the game for the Proteas.
South Africa managed to hold on to their nerves and seal the game in the final over of the game to seal the series (3-0). India started the game well with wickets in succession but couldn’t control the game in the middle overs with the bowl and with the bat as well. That’s the area where South Africa were far better than India and to be honest, they were far better in controlling the game in the middle overs in the whole series and that’s the reason they whitewashed the visitors.
Key Takeaway
- Deepak Chahar once again proved that if he gets the backing of the management he can be developed as a proper seam bowling all-rounder.
- Prasidh Krishna needs to be backed for a long run, every time he runs in this format he takes wickets and that’s a very good sign for team India looking ahead at the World Cup 2023.
Coming into the series, Shikhar Dhawan was under immense pressure to perform with so many young openers waiting in the wings but Dhawan proved that even at the age of 36, he still can be India’s best bid going ahead in the World Cup. Dhawan’s form is the biggest plus from this series.
~Vaibhav Tripathi (Guest Author)
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