South Africa hold their nerves to Clinch a Thriller

South Africa won the 3rd match by a mere 4 runs to whitewash India by 3-0. SA (South Africa) would be over the moon as no expert had predicted this score-line. Quinton de Kock was named Man of the Series as he amassed 229 runs which included a century in 3^rd ODI. Earlier Quinton announced his retirement from Red Ball Cricket to focus on white ball Cricket, now it can be said that his decision was a fruitful one.

Earlier India had won the toss & elected to field first. SA posted a challenging & competitive total of 288 runs for India. India started their innings in a cautious manner as they managed to score 50 runs for the loss of KL Rahul’s wicket. Then, Shikhar Dhawan & Virat Kohli were involved in a 98 runs partnership. Both the batters looked threatening to take the game away, but Keshav Maharaj & Andile Phelukwayo got rid of both the batters.  Dhawan scored 61 runs in 73 balls &  Kohli contributed 65 runs in 84 balls.

The wickets of batters shifted the momentum towards Proteas. Once again, the middle order of India (Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer & Suryakumar Yadav) was exposed as none of them scored even 50 runs. Deepak Chahar came into the playing 11 & he made the most of the opportunity. He blistered a half-century of 54 runs in 34 balls. The game was evenly poised when Chahar was playing as he kept the bowlers bothering with his vintage batting.

In last 4 overs India required 10 runs with 3 wickets in hand. It looked India will win the match & avoid embarrassment, but India throwed the towel as Chahar became the victim of Lungi Ngidi. Chahar scored a fighting 54 runs in 34 balls & almost took India home. India fell short of the target by only 4 runs with 4 balls remaining. Ngidi the speedster &  Phelukwayo the dexterous all-rounder took 3 wickets each. The peculiarity of SA’s bowling unit was that every bowler didn’t lose hope after getting a beating.

India won’t be able to believe that they lost. This loss is not only a wake-up call but an eye-opener for India as their process isn’t promising. India had got everything to excel but they weren’t quite able to exhibit their credentials.

South Africa would be amazed that they snatched victory from the Jaws of Defeat. South Africa have bagged 30 Crucial World Super League points. SA would be booming with confidence because they not only defeated India but they buried them alive by producing clinical performances.

South Africa were asked to bat first. South Africa had lost 2 wickets in the power-play overs & scored 53 runs. This time Quinton de Kock took the responsibility of taking the team out of muddle. He along with Rassie van der Dussen resurrected the innings. The role between Quinton & Rassie was clear as Quinton was the enforcer & Rassie a supporting role. Quinton de Kock was in no mercy mode as he notched up his 17^th ODI Century. He now has scored 6 hundred against India.

Quinton & Rassie were involved in a 144-run partnership. The dismissal of Quinton stopped the flow of run rate. From 212/3 in 35 overs SA got bundled out to 287 runs. There was a significant dip in SA’s scoring as none of the batters showed a fight. The pick of the bowlers from India was Prasidh Krishna who took 3 wickets, whereas  Chahar & Bumrah took 2 wickets each. India did a decent job by not allowing the total to surpass 300 runs.