India finally won a toss after losing 20 in a row in ODI cricket, in the deciding third game in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. And just as it has been in the last two ODIs, they made full use of the even better batting conditions under lights and chased down the target with remarkable ease to beat South Africa by nine wickets and seal the series 2-1.
For sure, this series victory came at a pretty good time, especially for head coach
Gautam Gambhir, who has been in the firing line following the 0-2 loss in the preceding Test series.
The smile on stand-in captain KL Rahul’s face when he won the toss underlined the relief in the camp. After taking a beating from centurion Quinton de Kock, his bowlers bounced back well as Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav took four wickets apiece to restrict the Proteas to 270 in 47.5 overs.
The ACA-VDCA Stadium did have a little bit in it for the bowlers, at least compared to the pitches that were in use in Ranchi and Raipur. Yet, overall batting conditions were excellent, which meant the South Africa total was very much below par.
Their target not even 300, India never really felt the pressure, even though openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (116 not out off 121 balls) and Rohit Sharma (75 off 73 balls) couldn’t get their team off to a rapid start. However, they also ensured not to give their wickets away with unnecessary shots. But once former captain Rohit got into his groove, the big strokes flowed from his blade.
His acceleration helped Jaiswal, who was a bit quiet initially, to break free and chance his arms, and his execution was spot-on. South Africa needed early wickets to keep their hopes alive, but the duo’s shot selection closed that out. And once the dew was in full effect, they lifted India’s scoring rate to almost six an over before Rohit fell off Keshav Maharaj.
The openers forging 155 inside 26 overs meant Virat Kohli, coming off back-to-back centuries, could play freely. Kohli (65 not out) made sure he continued having fun against a more or less stingless bowling attack, while Jaiswal brought up his maiden ODI ton.
India won the game with 61 balls to spare. Taking no credit away from Jaiswal, Rohit, Prasidh and Kuldeep, who proved how sharp he can be when not having to deal
with the wet ball, the Proteas’ extremely injudicious shot selection gave India the
upper hand.
Captain Temba Bavuma, De Kock, Dewald Brevis and Marco Jansen were all guilty of throwing their wickets away with poor shots. Also, it was baffling to see Aiden Markram, who scored a ton in the last game, demoted to No.5 in the batting order just to accommodate Ryan Rickelton at the top.