Team India defeated South Africa by 8 wickets in the final ODI played at SuperSports Park, Centurion just finished a few moments ago. The Indian bowlers did a great job again by dismissing South Africa for 204. Chasing the target of 205, Virat Kohli scored his 3rd century of the series and helped Men in Blue win match by 8 wickets.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and invited South Africa into bat at Centurion. South African openers Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla gave a steady start adding 23 runs for the first wicket. Shardul Thakur who was playing his first game in the series gave the early breakthrough dismissing Hashim Amla. Captain Aiden Markram played with positive intent scoring boundaries. Shardul Thakur took the second wicket dismissing Markram for 24. At the end of 10 overs, South Africa scored 44 for 2.
AB de Villiers and Khaya Zondo steadied the innings with both batsmen playing Indian spin twin with comfort. Both of them added 62 runs for a 3rd wicket. Yuzvendra Chahal took the important wicket of AB de Villiers for 30 runs. Klassen and Zondo put on 30 for the 4th wicket. Zondo reached his half-century off 67 balls. South Africa lost wickets at regular intervals. Morne Morkel contributed 20 while Andile Phehluwakyo 34 helped hosts to go past 200 total. South Africa was bowled out for 204 in 46.5 overs. For India, Shardul Thakur was the pick of bowlers with 4 wickets, also Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal picked 2 wickets each.
Chasing the target of 205, Rohit Sharma played some wonderful strokes and was dismissed for 15 runs. Captain Virat Kohli looked in great touch right from the start playing with positive intent. At the end of 10 overs, India scored 63 for 1. Dhawan was dismissed for 18 off 34 balls. After that Kohli did not allow the South African bowlers to settle reaching his half-century off 36 balls. The Indian captain continued his brilliant timing. Rahane took singles and gave the strike to Kohli.
It was another dominating display of batting by Kohli who reached his 35th century off 82 balls. Rahane remained not out on 34 while Kohli not out on 129.
Kohli became the first batsman to score most runs in a bilateral series. Team India won the match by 8 wickets with 107 balls to spare.
India 206 for 2 in 32.1 overs ( Kohli 129*, Rahane 34*, Ngidi 2/54) beat
South Africa 204 in 46.5 overs ( Khaya Zondo 54, Phehulwakyo 34, Shardul Thakur 4/52) by 8 wickets
South African captain Aiden Markram: It was quite a tough series. We want to look ourselves and try to figure why we were not good at all. It’s a nice break from the format.
Man of the match and man of the series Virat Kohli said: It was a team effort. This is a great place to bat under lights. I have got 8 or 9 years of cricket left in me and want to do best for my country which is a wonderful feeling. This team has shown character. The spin twin playing their first South African tour did a superb job. In the first two test matches, we could not play with positive intent. Now we are looking for T20Is.
India wins the series 5-1. The 3 match T20I series will begin on 18th Feb.
