With a 214-run loss to South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium, India lost the five-match ODI series 2-3. While Quinton de Kock set the stage with a 87-ball 109, Faf du Plessis (133 off 115) and AB de Villiers (119 off 61) clobbered Indian bowlers to set the hosts a 439-run target after opting to bat in the last match of the series.
Chasing the mountainous total, Ajinkya Rahane (87 off 58) took the attack to the visitors. Coming in to bat at 44 for two, he was involved a 112-run stand with Shikhar Dhawan to keep the hosts in the reckoning. While Dale Steyn (3/38) accounted for the No 4 batsman, Kagiso Rabada (4/41) claimed the key wickets of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to help SA to their first bilateral series win in India.
Earlier, there was no looking back for de Kock after getting off the mark with a four off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first over. He flicked the medium pacer to set the tone of the innings and continued to milk the Indian attack with gusto.
Hashim Amla too joined in plundering runs off the Indians. He smashed Mohit Sharma for three boundaries in the over en route to becoming the fastest to 6000 ODI runs. However, later in the over while attempting to cut the pacer, he departed nicking the ball to the wicketkeeper.
With du Plessis stoically holding up the other end, de Kock continued to pick boundaries at will. Finding the gaps with ease, the opener raced to his half-century. While Harbhajan hadn’t conceded a boundary in his first three overs, the off-spinner was slammed through mid-on for four as the opener gained in momentum.
With a steady flow of runs the de Kock-du Plessis took SA past the three-figure mark in the 15th over. However, while he was on 62, Mohit couldn’t hold on to a tough chance at mid-off off Amit Mishra and de Kock then continued to clobber the bowlers. Helped by overthrows and missed chances in the field, the South Africans cantered on to the post a massive score.
de Kock slammed Harbhajan through extra cover and to third-man for successive boundaries and a beautiful cover drive off Mohit later, he reached 99. Then with a single he brought up his century off just 78 balls; his 8th in the format and second in the series. In the process he became the fastest to eight ODI centuries.
du Plessis, who had held up the other end then drove Raina to long-on to bring up his fourth fifty of the series. However, later in the over, de Kock holed out to long-off to depart for 109.
At the end of the 154-run partnership, de Villiers joined du Plessis in building on the platform. And build they did with style. While the No 3 bat lofted Axar Patel for six, de Villiers hit Raina over square-leg for six.
Picking fours and sixes at regular intervals the pair set about the task of setting India a formidable target. du Plessis reached his century with a single to midwicket off Mishra as he apart the Indian attack. Then even as he suffered from cramps he lofted Patel for three sixes and a boundary in an over to pick 24 runs from it. While the top-order bat was hogging the lime-light, de Villiers too was creeping towards his century at a quick pace.
While du Plessis retired hurt on 133 off 115 balls, David Miller joined de Villiers who was batting on 79 off 49 balls. The SA ODI captain reached his ton off 57 balls and continued to clobber the bowlers. He swept Mohit for a six and followed up with two more sixes off Bhuvneshwar in the next. However after the two back-to-back sixes he edged the bowler to Dhoni behind the wickets and returned to the pavilion.
In the following over, Farhaan Behardien was let off at long-off by Raina while on one. With a run off the missed chance the SA batsmen took the visitors to the 400-run mark. The blitzkrieg continued as Miller collected three boundaries of Bhuvneshwar over mid-wicket, on the leg side and towards third-man; while Behardien launched the pacer over the fence.
After lofting Harbhajan over mid-wicket for six, Behardien departed hitting the spinner to Raina at mid-wicket. Dean Elgar then got off the mark four down the ground and with Miller took SA to 438 for four.
Chasing the mountainous, Rohit Sharma opened India’s account with a boundary through covers off Steyn while Dhawan got off the mark with a four off Rabada in the next. However, the opening stand ended for 22 with Rohit holing out to third-man.
Virat Kohli, who then came to the crease, departed edging Rabada to the wicketkeeper after pulling the bowler for a six. India were reeling on 44 for two when Rahane joined the left-handed opener in the middle.
Taking their chances in the middle, the Dhawan-Rahane pair strove to build a partnership. The middle-order bat took on Steyn and drove the fast-bowler to the boundary as he worked to keep India in the fray. While they worked their way forward and ran hard between the wickets, the opener got a life on 27. However, the partnership began to take shape as the batsmen settled in and took India past the three-figure mark.
Dhawan was the first to reach the half-century mark with a single off Behardien past point. A bit later, Rahane too followed him to the mark. The batsman hit Behardien over covers to reach fifty off 41 balls with a boundary. Taking the attack to the bowlers, he launched Tahir straight over the ropes for a six and followed it up with another to collect 14 off the over.
However, the flourishing stand was ended by Rabada. Amla pulled off a brilliant catch running in from extra cover to send Dhawan back for 60. Even as he dove and his head hit the ground, the fielder held on to the ball to end the partnership.
Raina, who replaced him at the crease, swept Tahir for six as he joined Rahane in maintaining the flow of runs. However, Rabada yorked the left-hand batsmen for 12 to leave India on 172 for four.
While he lost partners at crucial junctures, Rahane continued to plunder runs of the South African bowlers. He timed the ball, and found the gaps to maintain a steady flow of runs from one end. But his fighting knock was ended by Steyn; the batsman perished holing out to deep mid-wicket.
Brought back into the attack for his third spell, Steyn followed up with the wickets of Patel and Harbhajan after sending Rahane back. While Patel handed a catch to point, Harbhajan hit the ball to cover and returned for zero.
Couple of overs later, Bhuvneshwar holed out to long-on and left India on 210 for eight. Tahir, who accounted for the wicket rattled Dhoni’s stumps in his next. Rabada then claimed Mishra to bowl India out for 224 runs.
Man of the Match: Quinton de Kock for setting the tone of the match with a 109 off 87 balls.
Man of the Series: AB de Villiers for leading South Africa to a series win with 358 runs
