Cape Town: South Africa thrashed India by four runs in the third and final ODI on Sunday to clean sweep the series 3-0 after wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock scored a century from the bowlers. After being invited to bat, South Africa’s innings was reduced to 287 runs in 49.5 overs. His in-form ‘Man of the Match’ and ‘Player of the Series’ de Kock scored a brilliant century of 124 runs (12 fours and two sixes) while Rassie van der Dussen (four fours and one six) scored 52 runs. Played an innings
In response to this target, the Indian team was reduced to 283 runs in 49.2 overs after coming close to winning in a thrilling encounter with Deepak Chahar’s innings of 54 runs (5 fours and two sixes in 34 balls) and his South Africa The hopes of surviving a clean sweep were shattered. Deepak Chahar showed tremendous spirit despite the pressure situations. But his half-century innings of 61 runs by opener Shikhar Dhawan and 65 runs by former captain Virat Kohli also did not work for the team.
Indian captain KL Rahul’s bat did not work in this match and he touched the first ball of Lungi Ngidi (3 for 58) in the fifth over and caught Janeman Malan standing at first slip. After Rahul’s wicket fell, Dhawan and Kohli faced the South African bowlers firmly and did not let them dominate themselves. Dhawan and Kohli had formed a half-century partnership for the second wicket and were looking to consolidate it. Dhawan completed his 35th half-century in the 17th over with five fours and a six in 58 balls. Along with this, the team also completed 100 runs in the next over. Keshav Maharaj was bowling continuously. But both continued to add runs as expected.
Dhawan (five fours and a six in 73 balls) played high in an attempt to hook the delivery of Andile Felukvayo (3 for 40) and wicketkeeper de Kock took a simple catch to end their innings and second-wicket partnership of 98 runs. . In the same over, the team lost the wicket of wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who could not even open the account. Pant was expected to have a good partnership with Kohli. But he played a shot at the wrong time, which was not needed at that time, and was caught by Sisanda Magala at deep point. Felukwayo took two wickets in the 23rd and his second over. This put the Indian team under pressure. ,
Now the responsibility was on Kohli and Shreyas Iyer (26 runs). Then Kohli completed his 64th ODI half-century in 63 balls with the help of four fours. The Indian team’s score was 152 for three after 30 overs. Keshav Maharaj continued to bowl economically, giving India the fourth blow in his final over in the form of Kohli. In the 32nd over, Kohli could not understand the turn and bounce of his ball and the ball touched the edge of his bat and went into the hands of Bavuma who ran from the cover-point and ran to catch it. Suryakumar Yadav (39 runs) was now at the crease and he hit a six on Aidan Markram as soon as he came. But in the next, over he was lucky that the ball missed the stumps from close range.
Iyer and Suryakumar put on 39 runs for the fifth wicket but the partnership could not progress further. Iyer (two fours off 34 balls) was dismissed in the 38th over while attempting a pull shot off Sisanda Magala. Now the team’s score was 195 runs for five wickets. The team completed 200 runs in the same over. Suryakumar was scoring runs quickly and in the 40th over, trying to play a big shot off Dwayne Pretorius, was caught at mid-off by Bavuma. India lost the sixth wicket on the score of 210 runs. Jayant Yadav (02) could only play six balls and became the victim of Ngidi. Chahar then batted well under pressure conditions and shared a 55-run partnership with Jasprit Bumrah for the eighth wicket. But India’s misfortune was that he fell victim to Ngidi’s ball in the 48th over.
India thus lost the eighth wicket for 278 runs. The team could have easily won. They needed eight runs to win in the last two overs. But after the dismissal of Bumrah (12), Yuzvendra Chahal (02) and the famous Krishna could not take the team to victory. The team was reduced to 49.2 overs. Earlier, de Kock made 124 off 130 balls and shared a 144-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Van der Dussen. After this, India controlled the run rate of the home team by taking consecutive wickets of these two. With his sixth ODI century, de Kock also equaled South African player AB de Villiers’ record for most centuries against India.
Captain Lokesh Rahul’s decision to bowl first worked well as South Africa had just scored eight runs when Deepak Chahar (2 for 53) caught opener Jaaneman Malan (01) at the hands of the wicketkeeper on the first ball of the third over. Got it done It was a big wicket for the Indians as Malan played a brilliant knock of 91 in the second ODI at Paarl in which South Africa won the series. The credit for this should go to Chahar whose full-length ball taking an inward angle could not be understood by Malan and lost the wicket.
A straight throw from Indian skipper Rahul from mid-off ended in-form South African skipper Temba Bavuma’s eight-run knock, who failed to reach the non-striker’s end in time. This was also a big break for India as the South African captain scored a century in the opening ODI.and contributed well in the second match as well. India was heading in the right direction after taking two wickets in the powerplay when Aidan Markram attempted to play a pull shot in the deep square leg area but was caught by off-fielder Ruturaj Gaikwad, leaving the hosts three in the 13th over. 70 runs on the wicket.
De Kock and Van der Dussen, however, maintained a good partnership in spite of these setbacks, in which they were aggressively alert to deal with the Indian bowling attack. De Kock reached 90 with two fours and then hit the famous Krishna (3 for 59) for a straight six over the head. He took the time to complete the century and was stuck on 99 runs for a while. He completed his century by taking two runs off Shreyas Iyer.
Van der Dussen hits Yuzvendra Chahal for a four at midwicket. Both of them scored runs by applying different types of strokes around the wicket. But when it looked like both of them would take their team towards a big score against India, only then did the guests take their wickets. Dekock (12 fours and two sixes) reached the pavilion by giving a simple catch to Shikhar Dhawan at deep square leg off Jasprit Bumrah (2 for 52). Chahal then got Van der Dussen caught by Iyer in the deep. Apart from these two, David Miller contributed 39 runs and Dwayne Pretorius contributed 20 runs.
