India blow away South Africa to win the ODI series by 2-1

Image Credit: BCCI

The series decider was played at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. KL Rahul, for a change, decided to do the toss with his left hand and, finally, after 20 consecutive toss defeats, India won the toss and opted to bowl first.

India made one change, bringing in all-rounder Washington Sundar for a batter in the form of Tilak Varma. The hosts got off to a flying start when Arshdeep Singh dismissed Ryan Rickelton with an outswinger outside off stump, the batter completely misjudging it and edging straight into the gloves of KL Rahul.

But from then on, it was the Quinton de Kock show, as he smashed his 7th century against India in just 23 innings. His 106 (89), along with cameos from captain Temba Bavuma 48 (67) and Dewald Brevis 29 (29), helped South Africa post a competitive total of 270 in 47.5 overs. The Indian bowling unit bounced back strongly from the previous match’s hammering, restricting South Africa well below 300 after conceding 330+ in both earlier games. The pick of the bowlers were leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav (4/41) and fast bowler Prasidh Krishna (4/66).

India’s batting was pure class. Youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal, after a string of low scores, produced one of the finest innings of his short career — smashing his maiden ODI century, an unbeaten 116 (121) with 12 boundaries and 2 sixes. He was well supported by former captain Rohit Sharma, who was in sublime touch, scoring 75 (73) with 7 fours and 3 sixes.

After Rohit’s dismissal by Keshav Maharaj — the only wicket taken by South Africa — Virat Kohli joined Jaiswal in the run chase. Kohli, who had scored consecutive centuries earlier in the series, continued his rich vein of form, blasting an unbeaten 65 (45) with 6 boundaries and 3 sixes.

It was with a trademark Virat Kohli cover drive that India sealed the winning runs and clinched the ODI series 2-1. The victory was a strong statement of recovery after India’s disappointing Test series whitewash, where they had lost both matches rather embarrassingly.

With the ODI series wrapped up, India and South Africa now shift their focus to the T20I series, which features two matches — on 9th December at the Barabati Stadium and on 11th December at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh PCA Stadium.