India 271 for 1 (Jaiswal 116*, Rohit 75, Maharaj 1-44) beat South Africa 270 (de Kock 106, Kuldeep 4-41, Prasidh 4-66) by nine wickets
In the end, the match wasn’t as simplistic as “win the toss, win the match” – it ebbed and flowed with a variety of conditions presenting themselves.
Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana used the early moisture – perhaps a touch extra, to stop the pitch from drying out in the first innings – beautifully to tie South Africa down. Ryan Rickleton was opening, with Aiden Markram pushed down the order – to No. 5 – in Tony de Zorzi’s absence. Arshdeep took Rickleton’s edge in the first over. Rana followed it up with a maiden. India bowled three maidens in the first eight overs and only two edged boundaries from de Kock’s bat took South Africa to 25 for 1.
The introduction of Prasidh, already under fire in this series, brought South Africa an opportunity to break free. De Kock took a special liking to him, pulling him for two sixes in his first two overs and playing the two shots of the day: an aerial extra-cover drive on the up for a six and one along the ground for four. Prasidh went for 27 in his first two, and runs started to flow in a 113-run stand between de Kock and Bavuma. The latter scored only 48 of those in 67 balls, which was more indicative of the conditions and the quality of bowling. De Kock, on the other hand, was already 63 off 55 at this point.
The pitch had settled by now, and Matthew Breetzke took down the part-time spin of Tilak Varma, playing in place of Washington Sundar. By the end of the 26th over, the fifth-bowler combination of Prasidh and Tilak had leaked 56 runs from their five overs. De Kock was well on his way to a seventh century against India in just 23 innings. No one has scored more against India. Nor has any visiting batter scored more than his seven centuries in India.
Given the depth in their batting and the need to capitalise on the overs before the extra fielder went out for the last 10 overs, South Africa kept going. The run rate stayed up, but de Kock ended up playing all around a long half-volley from Prasidh, dismissed for 106 off 89 out of a score of 199 for 5 in 32.5 overs.
Dewald Brevis and Marco Jansen kept attacking, but the return of Kuldeep brought new challenges. India needed to bowl five overs of spin in the last 14, which could have been tricky. However, Kuldeep was cherishing the dry ball for the first time this series as well as the older ball for the first time in his career, since the bowling side is now allowed to bowl with only one of the two balls after the 34th over.
Brevis and Jansen were bullish in their response. They were not willing to play out Kuldeep, the leading wicket-taker in the series despite a predominantly wet ball in hand. When Kuldeep started the second over of this new spell, there had been 19 balls without a boundary. The extra fielder would go out in two overs as well. Aware of a big shot around the corner, Kuldeep kept tossing the ball wide and taking it away. Both of the batters holed out in the same over.
Kuldeep’s wizardry picked up two more wickets – only Adam Zampa has taken more hauls of four or more since Kuldeep’s debut – and Prasidh wiped off the last man.
If South Africa had to compete in this defence, they needed early wickets. The ball moved around for Jansen and Lungi Ngidi, but seven wides in the first two overs and the occasional calculated strike from Rohit kept India in touch with the asking rate.
Even as Jaiswal struggled, Rohit took the game on, charging and pulling Ngidi for a six and chipping Keshav Maharaj for a four against the turn. His trademark imperious pull made an appearance soon enough. While Jaiswal’s strike rate hovered around 50, Rohit got to his 94th score of 50 or more at a run a ball, buying Jaiswal time.
It hasn’t been an ideal scenario for Jaiswal, filling in for the injured captain Shubman Gill. He was obligated to hit out in the first two ODIs as India strived for above-par scored to counter the toss disadvantage, but here, he could use the extra time and post a big score before Gill takes over again.
The innings flowed smoothly after he reached 50 off 75 balls. He reached his hundred in just 36 more balls, becoming the sixth batter to be a centurion for India in all three formats. He batted with the two others in this chase. After Rohit fell 25 short of what would have been a 34th ODI hundred, Kohli displayed yet another upgrade to his game: he took his sixes tally to 12 – more than he has ever hit in a series before. He finished unbeaten on 65 off 45, as India won with more than 10 overs to spare.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
