De Villiers upstages Sharma as SA edge India in thriller

Published October 12, 2015
KANPUR: South African captain A.B. de Villiers drives as his Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni looks on during the first One-day International at Green Park Stadium on Sunday.—AFP
KANPUR: South African captain A.B. de Villiers drives as his Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni looks on during the first One-day International at Green Park Stadium on Sunday.—AFP

KANPUR: A.B. de Villiers and Rohit Sharma enhanced personal reputations with scintillating centuries but it was the timely interventions of South African bowlers that secured the visitors’ five-run win over India in the first One-day International on Sunday.

De Villiers’ unbeaten 73-ball century provided the late impetus as South Africa posted 303 for five, the highest team total at the Green Park Stadium, after deciding to bat first.

Sharma led India’s strong reply with a brilliant 150 off 133 balls before leg-spinner Imran Tahir turned the runfeast on its head by claiming two wickets in his final over.

Paceman Kagiso Rabada then dismissed two Indian batsmen in two deliveries in the final over to put South Africa 1-0 up in the five-match series in front of 40,000 home fans.

With India needing 11 runs off six balls, Rabada conceded just five runs and claimed two wickets, including the important one of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for 31, to dash India’s hopes.

India needed 22 runs of the last two overs with five wickets in hand and Dale Steyn conceded 11 before 20-year-old Rabada claimed back-to-back wickets to restrict the hosts to 298 for seven.

“I thought Imran Tahir first of all changed the game and gave us a chance,” de Villiers, who was adjudged man-of-the-match for his unbeaten 104-run blitz, told reporters.

“And lot of credit to Dale and Kagiso. The youngster proved quite handful and he has got a bright future,” added the South Africa captain who set alight the stadium with his superb stroke-making.

Containing de Villiers is one of the toughest jobs in international cricket and India were severely handicapped when their strike bowler Ravichandran Ashwin left the field after sending down only 4.4 overs.

Ashwin, playing his 100th ODI, struck in his first over to dismiss Quinton de Kock but Faf du Plessis (62) and Hashim Amla (37) shared a half-century stand.

De Villiers did not hit a boundary in the first 33 balls he faced but was unstoppable when he got going.

The right-hander clobbered his sixth six off the final ball of the innings from paceman Umesh Yadav to bring up his 21st ODI century as South Africa plundered 109 runs from the last 10 overs.

When India came out to bat, Sharma added 149 runs with Ajinkya Rahane (60) and the hosts looked on course to chase down the target without any fuss.

Sharma, the only batsman in the world to have hit two double-centuries in one-day cricket, hit six sixes and 13 boundaries before giving a return catch to Imran who dismissed Suresh Raina in the same over.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (31) struggled throughout his scratchy knock and fell in the final over.

Earlier, the Proteas had put on a breathtaking batting display after de Villiers won the toss and elected to bat.

Farhaan Behardien was unbeaten on a 19-ball 35 as the Proteas plundered 86 runs in the final six overs — which proved to be the key to success in the end.

“It was an amazing game of cricket,” said a visibly tired and relieved de Villiers. “It is close games like these that bring the fans in. The momentum turned around several times, but I thought Imran turned the game on its head. Rabada, of course, proved to be a handful with his pace. He’s got a bright future.”

Dhoni said he was disappointed by the narrow loss which he blamed on his bowlers leaking runs in the final overs.

“The outcome was not great for us,” he said. “There were plenty that went wrong, but we showed character to get close. Frankly, we should have won this game.

“We missed the six overs from Ash [Ashwin] which was crucial because he is our best spinner. But the bowlers should have done a bit better.

“The partnership between Rohit and Rahane was superb. This was a fantastic innings from Rohit. It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on but he made it look so easy.”

The second one-dayer will be played in Indore on Wednesday.

INDIAN batsman Rohit Sharma plays a shot during his 150-run knock against South Africa on Sunday.—AP
INDIAN batsman Rohit Sharma plays a shot during his 150-run knock against South Africa on Sunday.—AP

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA:

Q. de Kock c Raina b Ashwin 29

H.M. Amla b Mishra 37

F. du Plessis lbw b Yadav 62

A.B. de Villiers not out 104

D.A. Miller st Dhoni b Mishra 13

J.P. Duminy c Dhoni b Yadav 15

F. Behardien not out 35

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-5) 8

TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs) 303

FALL OF WKTS: 1-45, 2-104, 3-152, 4-197, 5-238.

DID NOT BAT: D.W. Steyn, M. Morkel, Imran Tahir, K. Rabada.

BOWLING: Kumar 10-0-67-0; Yadav 10-0-71-2 (1w); Ashwin 4.4-0-14-1; Mishra 10-0-47-2 (1w); Binny 8-0-63-0 (2w); Raina 7-0-37-0 (1w); Kohli 0.2-0-1-0.

NOTE: Ashwin left the field after bowling four balls of his fifth over; Kohli completed the over.

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma c and b Imran 150

S. Dhawan lbw b Morkel 23

A.M. Rahane c Miller b Behardien 60

V. Kohli c Morkel b Steyn 11

M.S. Dhoni c and b Rabada 31

S.K. Raina c Duminy b Imran 3

S.T.R. Binny c Amla b Rabada 2

B. Kumar not out 1

A. Mishra not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-13) 17

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 298

FALL OF WKTS: 1-42, 2-191, 3-214, 4-269, 5-273, 6-297, 7-297.

DID NOT BAT: R. Ashwin, U.T. Yadav.

BOWLING: Steyn 10-0-54-1 (1w); Rabada 10-0-58-2 (4w); Behardien 6-0-38-1 (1w); Morkel 10-0-51-1 (2w); Duminy 4-0-36-0 (5w); Imran Tahir 10-0-57-2.

RESULT: South Africa won by five runs.

UMPIRES: V.A. Kulkarni (India) and Aleem Dar (Pakistan).

TV UMPIRE: C. Shamshuddin (India).

MATCH REFEREE: B.C. Broad (England).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: A.B. de Villiers.

SECOND MATCH: Indore (D/N), Oct 14.

THIRD MATCH: Rajkot (D/N), Oct 18.

FOURTH MATCH: Chennai (D/N), Oct 22.

FIFTH MATCH: Mumbai (D/N), Oct 25.

Published in Dawn, October 12th , 2015

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