Proteas thumped by India, falling in ODI series defeat

The hosts coasted to victory with more than 10 overs to spare.


South Africa were outplayed on Saturday, with India wrapping up a 2-1 series victory after securing a nine-wicket win in the third and final one-day international (ODI) in Visakhapatnam.

Set a target of 271 runs, the hosts cruised to a comfortable win, anchored by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal who made an unbeaten 116 runs off 121 deliveries, his maiden ton in his fourth ODI match.

He was well supported by fellow top-order batters Rohit Sharma (75) and veteran Virat Kohli (65 not out) as India reached 271/1 with more than 10 overs to spare.

Proteas innings

Earlier, after losing the toss for the first time in the series, the Proteas were sent in to bat.

Experienced opener Quinton de Kock glued himself to the crease, bashing 106 runs off 89 balls – his 23rd ODI century – but he struggled to find partners to build momentum.

Fellow top-order batter Temba Bavuma stuck around for a while, contributing 49 runs. The skipper was removed, however, when he got an outside edge off a slower ball from spinner Ravindra Jadeja which was held by Kohli.

And after De Kock had his stumps dismantled by seamer Prasidh Krishna in the 33rd over, the Proteas lost their last five wickets for 71 runs as they were bowled out for 270 with 13 deliveries left in their innings.

Krishna, who took 4/66, and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who returned 4/41 as he tore through the Proteas lower order, were the star performers in India’s bowling attack.

Not enough runs

“We wanted to make it a lot more exciting but we didn’t have enough runs,” Bavuma said after the game.

“It gets easier under lights, and we should’ve been smarter and saved wickets.

“In the first 10 overs with the ball we were better, but they had no scoreboard pressure to work with. Kudos to India’s batters who showed their quality.”

South Africa and India will now square off in five T20 International matches starting with the series opener in Cuttack on Tuesday.

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