South Africa 287 (de Kock 124, van der Dussen 52, Prasidh 3-59, Bumrah 2-52) vs India
A chanceless century from Quinton de Kock and a chancy but classy half-century from Rassie van der Dussen carried South Africa to 287 in their pursuit of a 3-0 whitewash over India. Having already conceded the series, and with no ODI Super League points up for grabs, India rang in four changes, but a fairly familiar script played out with South Africa dominating for the most part.
India, however, struck back in the slog overs as South Africa lost their last seven wickets for 73 runs. They had also made early incisions in the powerplay, but de Kock was his breezy self, claiming 34 of the 53 the hosts had scored in the first ten overs. By the time de Kock had got to his fifty in the 18th over, South Africa were 93 for 3. Jayant Yadav, playing his second ODI in place of R Ashwin, found biting turn and bounce to challenge South Africa. de Kock, however, messed with the offspinner’s length – and head – by launching a six over his head and reverse-sweeping a four past slip.
van der Dussen, too, got into the act when he cracked Jayant to the right of point for four and then shovelled Yuzvendra Chahal’s wrong ‘un past mid-on for another four. Prasidh Krishna, in particular, peppered van der Dussen with short balls in the lower 140 kph range, but he survived that burst and then lined up the spinners.
The absence of Venkatesh Iyer meant India had only five bowling options, and ever-lurking presence of both de Kock and van der Dussen left them scrambling for a sixth bowler. So, Shreyas Iyer came on to bowl some spin in the 31st over and ended up leaking 21 runs in three overs filled with loose balls. After spending six balls on 99, de Kock reached his 17th ODI ton – and sixth against India – with a drive off Shreyas. Among wicketkeeper-batters, only Kumar Sangakkara (23) has more ODI hundreds than de Kock.
de Kock threatened to hit full-tilt when he took Chahal for back-to-back fours in the 35th over, but Jasprit Bumrah returned to the attack in the next over and had him holing out for 124 off 130 balls. It snapped a 144-run fourth-wicket partnership that came at the rate of over six an over. The stand could’ve been cut short much earlier had Rishabh Pant, the wicketkeeper, not dropped van der Dussen twice – when he was first on 12 and then on 48.
It needed a spectacular sliding catch from Shreyas at deep midwicket for India to finally remove van der Dussen for 52 off 59 balls. It was the first time that they had dismissed van der Dussen – after 288 balls – since the first innings of the third Test at this venue.
Shreyas was also involved in the run-out of Andile Phelukwayo (4), which added to the flurry of late wickets. David Miller and Dwaine Pretorius, picked in place of Tabraiz Shamsi, gave South Africa’s innings a leg-up with a 44-run stand off 43 balls before Prasidh fooled both batters with his slower variation.
Bumrah dragged South Africa back further, giving up just 15 runs in his last three overs while besting Keshav Maharaj. It was some of the most impactful bowling on display since Deepak Chahar’s seven-over new-ball spell in which he snagged Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram, and it helped India regain some of the ground they had lost in the middle overs.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
