South Africa v India, 5th ODI Review: India Thrash South Africa to Win their Maiden Bilateral Series in Rainbow Nation

After a hiccup in the 4^th ODI against the Proteas, the Men in Blue bounced back strongly to win their first ever bilateral series in the Rainbow Nation after winning the 5^th encounter at Port Elizabeth by 73 runs. It was an emphatic performance by India as they took an unassailable 4-1 lead in the 6 match series.

Before this ODI, Rohit Sharma failed to get going on the whole tour. As I had written in one of my articles before that Rohit was just an innings away from getting back to form and it happened today. He struck a sensational century and courtesy his brilliant knock India managed to post a more than decent 274/7 on the board in the end of their allotted 50 overs.

Yet again Shikhar Dhawan began in a rollicking fashion and raced of 34 of 23 deliveries which included 8 hits to the fence. However, he was dismissed by a good delivery from Kagiso Rabada. Virat Kohli struck some amazing shots to start off proceedings but for yet another time he was run out during a partnership with Rohit Sharma.

Ajinkya Rahane was also run out as yet another miscommunication cost India early. Shreyas Iyer struck some delightful shots while on the other hand, Rohit as slowly going about his business as he completed yet another century. The Proteas managed to claw their way back quite strongly in the death overs and quite like the previous occasion they managed to restrict India to a below-par score of 274.

South Africa began pretty strongly with skipper Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla playing some wonderful shots. After a 52 runs partnership, it was Markram who was sent back to the pavilion by Jasprit Bumrah. It was Hardik Pandya who changed the scenario of the game with twin wickets in two overs. One of them included the very dangerous AB de Villiers while the other one was JP Duminy.

It was David Miller and Amla who started resurrecting the innings and also played some beautiful shots in the process. After a 62 runs partnership, it was Yuzvendra Chahal who went through Miller’s gate. There was a brief cameo by Heinrich Klassen but it wasn’t enough as the Indian spinners again spun a web around the South African batters.

Kuldeep was on the verge of registering his 2^nd ODI hat-trick missing it narrowly. However, he ended up bagging 3 wickets in his final over as India eventually completed a comprehensive victory.

Brief Scores 

India 274/7 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 116, Lungisani Ngidi 4/51)

South Africa 201 all-out in 42.2 overs (Hashim Amla 71, Heinrich Klassen 39, Kuldeep Yadav 4/57, Hardik Pandya

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