India stormed to a fifth straight win in the ODI series with a crushing win over South Africa in Delhi. Their spinners combined to knock out South Africa for 99, their lowest ODI total against them – and the fourth lowest in the format – within 28 over’s. Spinners Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Kuldeep Yadav split eight wickets between them, with Kuldeep completing his third four-for against South Africa.
As a result of the loss, South Africa finished the series in 11th position in the Super League table, having already canceled their ODIs against Australia. They must finish in the top eight if they want direct qualification for the 2023 World Cup.
This is the fourth time in ODI history that South Africa has been knocked out for under 100, and the second in 2022 after being sacked by England for 83. The batting fell apart, Tuesday added to a growing list of concerns for visitors ahead of the T20 World Cup: regular captain Temba Bavuma, stand-in skipper Keshav Maharaj and wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi were all out of the fixture with an illness.
While Maharaj is newly infected, Bavuma and Shamsi also missed the second ODI, with CSA saying they are “feeling better” but were sitting on the couch as a “precautionary measure”. David Miller led the team in an ODI for the first time but was unable to lift them from 43 for 4. They lost their last six wickets for 33 runs in 50 balls and faced an unlikely task on the field.
No team has defended more than 125 in a match with 50 left, while South Africa’s lowest successful defense remains 129. They had to try and improve that without their pace, spearheading Kagiso Rabada, who was rested, and Wayne Parnell, who played in the previous two. games but made way for the other all-rounders Andile Phehluwayo and Marco Jansen.
India Vs South Africa ODI Series Match Summary
India reached the goal of 100 runs in the 20th over. The chase was as routine as they come after India had already won the match in the field with a bowling performance that exposed South Africa’s perennial weakness against spin, and what appears to be a return of the yips sneaking in pressure situations.
Their lineup was completely blown away by spin, although it may not be very effective at the T20 World Cup in Australia. However, there are still big questions about their readiness for the big tournament, where they are grouped with all three heavyweight sub continental sides – Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India – and may also be joined by Sri Lanka after the first round.
Match Summary
Washington opened the bowling alley with Mohammed Siraj and immediately found spin. He hindered Quinton de Kock, who was struck by a ball that just passed his outside edge, and then crossed a paddle that went over Sanju Samson and the lone slip. But de Kock soon cut to a wide ball and sent it straight to Avesh Khan in a short third.
Siraj was less problematic at first and Janneman Malan took advantage when he made a mistake in height. Malan sent a ball too high through the covers, a short one through the square leg then fired the shot of the innings in terms of timing and placement: a stunning drive. But his pleasure did not last long. Malan timed the next ball to Avesh on a deep square, which had just been placed in the correct position.
At that point, Reeza Hendricks had successfully assessed that he had been awarded lbw to Avesh when the ball tracking showed it was too high, but he couldn’t count his delay. He was undone by a short ball from Siraj which he finely sliced. South Africa finished the power play at 26 for 3 – their combined lowest score to top ten overs since 2008.
Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen saw five limitless overs before Markram’s trail failed per spin. Unlike in the first ODI when he was foxed by Kuldeep, in this match it was left poor Orthodox spinner Shahbaz pulled him forward and found the edge.
South Africa’s drought ended when Siraj missed a blow to the hindfoot from Klaasen halfway through before Klaasen earned his next four as he went back to pull a Shahbaz half-tracker through midwicket. He stayed in his fold to cut on a short ball from Washington, but just as his partnership with Miller with South Africa began to stabilize, Miller missed an arm ball from Washington and was bowled.
Andile Phehlukwayo misread a googly from Kuldeep and carried on, which may not bode well for his chances of replacing Dwaine Pretorius in the T20 World Cup squad. Marco Jansen, the other contender for Pretorius’ place, gave a better picture of himself and sent Kuldeep long-on for the only six innings.
But Klaasen, who didn’t make a single shot to the forefoot, couldn’t stay with him and was struck by a Shahbaz ball that spun away before being bowled, after which Kuldeep cleared the tail. He hit Bjorn Fortuin below the kneecap with a loopy throw, then beat Anrich Nortje with a googly of back-to-back deliveries. Kuldeep’s hat trick was against Lungi Ngidi, who blocked the ball.
Jansen then took South Africa nearly 100 with a reverse sweep on Shahbaz, but then tried to slog sweep Kuldeep and hit him to deep square.
In response, India’s opening pair ran to 42 of the first 37 balls, and it didn’t look like anyone in the South African attack could separate them. In the end, no one did, and it took South Africa some confusion to get their first wicket when Shubman Gill called Shikhar Dhawan for a run and then sent him back. Dhawan was eliminated for 8, with a leading score of 40 from his last five innings.
Ishan Kishan was the other batter from India who didn’t capitalize and was caught for 10 behind Fortune. Gill advanced to 49 – his highest score of the series – and did particularly well against the short ball. It cut and pulled well, and had Shreyas Iyer – the series’ greatest go-getter for companionship – as India marched to victory.
Iyer had a nervous moment as he cut Nortje to the tall Jansen in the deep third. Jansen jumped, got fingertips at the ball, realized he was going over the line, and threw the ball back up, but then lost control when he went back onto the field. The end result was six runs, an angry Nortje, and a disappointed Miller, which pretty much summed up South Africa’s run.
Iyer hit Fortune straight to the ground for two fours in three balls, and Gill sent a Ngidi half-volley through the covers for his eighth four. Gill was just one away from fifty as he played around a full Ngidi delivery and was slammed in front of the middle stump to be doled out lbw. Iyer hit the winning runs when he lofted Jansen for six over long-off.
