Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, Indian Cricket team registered their maiden ODI series win in South Africa after 25 years. It was a dominating performance by Men in Blue who looked superior team from the 1st ODI. Team India would be looking to finish the series with a 5-1 scoreline when they face hosts in the 6th and final ODI match to be played at Centurion tomorrow.
In the 5th ODI played at Port Elizabeth, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave team India a solid start putting on 48 runs. The 3-time double centurion in ODI cricket came back into form by scoring his maiden ODI century on South African soil and added 105 runs for the second wicket with Indian captain Virat Kohli. In the last 10 overs, the Indian batsmen could only score 55 runs and were restricted to 274 for 7. Sheryas Iyer scored 30, MS Dhoni came to bat at number 7, scored just 13 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar made 19 valuable runs.
While bowling, Jasprit Bumrah gave the breakthrough dismiss South African captain Aiden Markram. Chahal took 2 wickets and Kuldeep Yadav 4 troubled South African batsmen taking 6 wickets between them. Hardik Pandya picked 2 important wickets of JP Duminy and AB de Villiers.
South Africa did not have a great start with the ball as Shikhar Dhawan played with positive intent. After the fall of Virat Kohli’s wicket, it was a decent bowling performance and restricted the run flow by picking wickets which prevented India to get a big total. Lungi Ngidi took 4 wickets and was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa.
While chasing, Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla put on 52 runs for the first wicket. JP Duminy and AB de Villiers went in quick succession. David Miller and Amla steadied South African innings with 62 runs stand for the 4th wicket. Miller was dismissed by Chahal. The experienced Amla scored 71 runs before being run out by Pandya. After that none of South African batsmen could score and were bowled out for 201.
Shardul Thakur must be given a chance as Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not performed to his expectations in ODI series. Manish Pandey or Dinesh Karthik should be also given a chance.
South Africa must give rest to Morne Morkel and bring in Imran Tahir. Farhaan Beherdein should be given a chance in the squad.
Probable XI India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (C), Ajiyanka Rahane, Manish Pandey/ Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
Probable XI South Africa: Aiden Markram (C), Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, David Miller, Farhaan Beherdein, Klassen, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir.