SA vs IND 2018, 2nd ODI: Chahal, Dhawan Inspire India to Win Centurion Game

What a dominating all-round show it turned out to be from the Men in Blue, as they thrashed South Africa by nine wickets at the SuperSport Park in Centurion to take a 2-0 lead in the six-match series.

India has been on a roll in the last few matches of the tour, and South Africa need to bounce back strongly in the 3^rd ODI to harbour hopes of winning or even drawing the series.

For yet another time, it was the Indian wrist spinners who troubled the Proteas batsmen on a consistent basis, but their batsmen batted pretty poorly, and most them of were pretty soft dismissals. After a 39 runs partnership between Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock, it was Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav who proved too hot to handle for the hosts, as India kept chipping away with the wickets.

From 51/1 the hosts lost three wickets without the addition of a single run, as Chahal removed de Kock, while Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Aiden Markram and David Miller in a single overs. It was a brilliant piece of bowling by them, as South Africa were left searching for answers. There was a 48 runs partnership between JP Duminy and Khaya Zondo, but it was a loose shot from Zonddo which brought a premature end to their partnership and from there on it was a slide from where South Africa never recovered.

No batsmen were able to make a vital contribution, as South Africa was eventually skittled out for a paltry 118 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the Indian bowlers, as he returned with his best spell of 5/22 in One Day Internationals. Kuldeep Yadav also chipped in with three while the pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah return with a wicket each.

It was expected to be a walk in the park for India, and that was exactly how it turned out for the visitors. Rohit Sharma just like the other day, began with an exceptional pull shot which went over the boundary ropes and Shikhar Dhawan started with some exquisite drives.

However, Rohit couldn’t carry on, and he got dismissed off a short delivery by Kagiso Rabada.

From there on skipper, it was skipper Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan who ensured India reached the target without any hiccups. Both played some wonderful shots en route to their unbeaten partnership.

However, with India needing just two runs, the umpires took the lunch break which was pretty surprising. Even the commentators went on to say common sense should have prevailed and the match should have ended then and there itself.

However both the teams had to come back, and Kohli struck the winning runs to take India to the target.

Brief Scores

South Africa 118 all-out in 32.2 overs (JP Duminy 25, Khaya Zondo 25, Yuzvendra Chahal 5/22, Kuldeep Yadav 3/20)

India 119/1 in 20.3 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 51*, Virat Kohli 46*, Kagiso Rabada 1/24)

India won by nine wickets (with 29.3 overs remaining)