Port Elizabeth, Jan 21: South Africa defeated Indiaby 48 runs after the D/L method was applied when consistent rain made further play impossible in the fourth ODI at St. George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Friday. A second rain delay, during the 33rd over of the visitors’ innings, ended the day’s play with India on 142 for six when a par score would have been 190. Rain first interrupted play when the 32nd over was in progress. The series is now level at 2-2, meaning there's still all to play for when the two sides meet for the final time this tour on Sunday at the Centurion.
Virat Kohli remained unbeaten at 87 and Harbhajan Singh was giving him company when the play was halted for the final time.
Yusuf Pathan fell to Morne Morkel in the 30th over on a day when the hosts looked in command on the field.
Skipper MS Dhoni, who came in to bat after Suresh Raina's dismissal, could add just 2 runs before handing an easy catch to du Plessis at short extra cover off Robin Peterson.
Raina missed out on a straight delivery and paid the price by getting stumped for 20.
Yuvraj Singh looked in great touch but he was outdone by Graeme Smith's brilliance in the field. The left-hander top-edged the ball in the air while trying to paddle - a super charged Smith dived full length to complete a stunning catch.
Parthiv Patel (11) was out Lbw to Lonwabo Tsotsobe while Rohit Sharma (1) slashed one off the same bowler straight into the hands of JP Duminy.
Earlier, JP Duminy scored a well made half-century to help South Africa reach 265 for 7 in 50 overs.
Duminy, in an innings marked by relatively few boundaries (two fours and one six), still managed to score 71 off just 72 balls. He shared a 54-run partnership with Robin Peterson (31) as the hosts went past the 250-run mark. Peterson was run out after he hit one straight to Yusuf Pathan at mid-off who in turn threw the ball to bowler Harbhajan who uprooted the stump.
South Africa were struggling at 118 for 5 when Duminy and Johan Botha put on 70 runs for the sixth wicket guiding the South African total to some respectability. Yuvraj Singh was the pick of the Indian bowlers and finished with figures of 34-3.
Botha made a gritty 44 off 59 balls before he missed a delivery from Yuvraj Singh and was stumped by MS Dhoni in a flash.
South Africa made a good start with their opening pair of Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith putting on a 50-run stand.
Smith was the first to go after scoring 18. In a bid to step up the tempo, Smith walked down the wicket before sending a Nehra delivery towards mid-off where Harbhajan took a low catch.
Smith's opening partner, the in-form Amla, scored a free-flowing 64 off 69 deliveries before he embarked on a suicidal second run. Virat Kohli's accurate throw to Dhoni resulted in Amla's departure. During this game, Amla broke Zaheer Abbas’ 28-year old record of scoring the fastest 2,000 runs in ODIs.
Faf du Plessis (1), who scored a half-century in the last match, was run out after he found one of the better Indian fielders - Virat Kohli - at short mid-wicket.
AB de Villiers (3) was caught behind off Yuvraj while Van Wyk (15) edged the same bowler to first slip into the hands of the very dependable Virat.
Brief Scores
Man of the Match: JP Duminy for his 71-run knock off 72 balls
South Africa 265 for 7 (Duminy 71*, Amla 65, Yuvraj 3-34) beat India (Kohli 87*, Tsotsobe 2-25) by 48 runs on D/L method
