The trademark leap in the air said it all. The 52nd ODI century in Ranchi on Sunday was indeed a deserving one for Virat Kohli and something he was eagerly waiting for. On his part, the ace batsman had certainly done his job. So had his contemporary Rohit Sharma, with a 51-ball 57.
But the Indian bowlers were given a massive scare by the South Africans, who almost chased down a 350-run target. In the end, India heaved a sigh of relief with a 17-run win as the Proteas were all out for 332 in 49.2 overs.
Much of the credit for the win would go to the crucial 136-run second-wicket partnership between Rohit and Kohli that laid the foundation for the Indian innings.
The Proteas, despite reeling at 11/3 in the fifth over, gave India’s 349/8 a valiant chase. Had the likes of Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis and Marco Jansen tried to take the game deeper and not left Corbin Bosch with too much to do all alone at the fag end, the visitors should have been the ones smiling in the end.
Because of the dew, the job became tougher for the Indian bowlers under lights. Bosch, even after the quick dismissals of the set Jansen and Breetzke in one over off Kuldeep Yadav, threatened to take the game away from India single-handedly. But he couldn’t, despite his combative innings of 67 off 51 balls.
Century a statement
The day, though, belonged to Kohli, as without his contribution, India would not have been able to pile up such a total after being put in. South Africa, without regular captain Temba Bavuma (rested), invited Kohli to go over the top by having more fielders in catching positions early in his innings, including at least two fielders in the slip cordon.
The former India captain accepted the invitation and unleashed some aerial strokes that took the South Africans by surprise. In a statement-making innings, he hit 11 boundaries and seven sixes.
The picture, however, could have been different had Rohit not got a reprieve when on 1. India had just lost their other opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal, to left-arm pacer Nandre Burger. In that same fourth over, Rohit mistimed a pull, only to be dropped at deep square leg by Tony de Zorzi. Rohit lifted his game soon after.
A delivery from Jansen kept low and brought an end to Rohit’s innings much against the run of play. But by that time he had surpassed Shahid Afridi for the most number of sixes (352) in ODI cricket.
India’s scoring rate did dip a little as Kohli was nearing three figures. But as soon as he got them, the big strokes again flowed from his bat, while skipper KL Rahul (60 off 56 balls) too ensured to improvise after taking a bit of time to settle down. For sure, the shots Rahul came up with later were vital for India in the slog overs.
Early strikes
Harshit Rana’s first spell, in which he castled opener Ryan Rickelton with a bit of an inward movement and took the edge of Quinton de Kock’s bat by taking the ball just a bit away, proved to be critical in the end.
Arshdeep Singh induced a poor shot from Proteas’ stand-in captain Aiden Markram thereafter and further tilted the scales in India’s favour. Despite the Proteas’ fightback, the first five overs of the South African chase certainly had a say in the game’s outcome.
