IND vs SA ODI: 3 Most Epic Encounters Between The Two Sides

India and South Africa are set to face off in a three-match ODI series after the end of the third Test in Cape Town. The first two games will be played at Boland Park in Paarl while the third and final game will be played in Cape Town. So far both sides have played 86 ODIs between themselves with India winning 35 games and South Africa winning 46. IND vs SA remains one of the most enticing rivalries in modern cricket and it is raising its bar with every series.

BCCI and Cricket South Africa have both announced the respective ODI squads. This will be the first ODI series for both teams in the new year. South Africa will travel to India later in the year to play another series as well. 

Over the years, both teams have been involved in many memorable encounters. In this article, we take a look at three such epic encounters ahead of the IND vs SA ODI series.

1993 Hero Cup Semifinal, Kolkata

The match is memorable as Sachin Tendulkar defended six runs off the last over to help India win an epic game of cricket. This was South Africa playing at the Eden Gardens upon their readmission into cricket at the start of the 1990s. India were the first side to play a Test series against South Africa. 

Meanwhile, the Hero Cup semi-final was the first game among the two sides that went right down to the wire. Bowling the final over, South Africa lost Fanie de Villiers via a runout. Tendulkar then bowled three dot balls with Brian McMillan farming the strike in the final ball with four runs to get. Master Balster kept his calm and just conceded a single to help India win the game. 

Scorecard: IND 195 in 50 overs (Azhar 90, Amre 48; de Villiers 3/19, Snell 3/33) bt SA 193/9 in 50 overs (Hudson 62, McMillan 48*) by 2 runs.

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2002 Champions Trophy Semifinal, Colombo

India posted a competitive 261/9 batting first. South Africa seemed to walk away with the game with them being at 192/1 when Herschelle Gibbs retired hurt. That opened the gates for India as Virender Sehwag after scoring 59 with the bat, came back o take three quick wickets to turn the game on its head. In the end, South Africa felt the pressure and fell short by 10 runs as India made it to the final of the tournament. 

Scorecard: IND 261/9 in 50 overs (Yuvraj 62, Sehwag 59, S Pollock 3/43) bt SA 251/6 in 50 overs (Gibbs retired hurt 116, Kallis 97; Sehwag 3/25) by 10 runs.

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2011 World Cup Group Match, Nagpur

This match is remembered once again for Sachin Tendulkar. He scored his fifth  and last century in World Cups, albeit in a losing cause at Nagpur. India scored 296 batting first with Tendulkar scoring 111, Virender Sehwag 73 and Gautam Gambhir 69. From being 267/2 in the 40th over, the Indian side were bowled out for 296 in the 49th over. 

South Africa chased down the target successfully with two balls to go as Robin Petersen hit the winning runs. The entire South African batting line-up contributed with Jacques Kallis top-scoring with 69 runs. In the end, it was the cameos from Johan Botha (23 off 15) and Petersen (18 off 7) that helped South Africa beat India. That remained India’s only loss in the tournament as they became the eventual World Cup champions in 2011.

Scorecard: SA 300/7 in 49.4 overs (Kallis 69, Amla 61, Harbhajan 3/53) bt IND 296 in 48.4 overs (Tendulkar 111, Sehwag 73, Steyn 5/50) by 3 wickets.

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