At various stages of the ODI series opener in Lucknow, India had South Africans under the pump, only for them to let go the position of strength and concede ground to the opposition, which eventually toppled them off by nine runs in a close-fought fixture on October 6.
The Proteas found heroes at several key stages of the game after being reduced to 71/3 at one point of their innings. They did manage to make a decent start with the bat on a moist surface offering Indian seamers lateral seam movement from the good length. Quinton de Kock (48) and Janneman Malan (22) stitched a stand of 49 against the new ball, before India finally earned the rewards for their good work.
Shardul Thakur was the first one to build inroads in the South African camp, taking 2 wickets for 35 runs off his 7 overs. It was he who dismissed Malan and Temba Bavuma (8) at No.3 to give Indians the ascendancy before Kuldeep Yadav yielded his magic in an outstanding over against Aiden Markram (8).
The discipline that Thakur showed in a spell that was predominantly delivered inside the second powerplay and the control and regularity with which Kuldeep turned the ball both ways for his 1/39 were India’s two biggest positives with the ball for the rain-marred 40-over encounter.
At the other end, however, Ravi Bishnoi struggled for any sort of consistency with his line and lengths and failed to maintain leash on run-scoring for his 1/69 off 8 overs. Bishnoi’s spell gave the Proteas the window to put the pressure back on India and the visitors then took on Mohammed Siraj (1/49) and Avesh Khan (0/51) to give themselves a score of 249/4, around 20 above par for the tricky surface.
That match-winning cushion was earned for the tourists by the in-form David Miller and South Africa’s middle-order dark horse Heinrich Klaasen. Miller showed marked improvement in his footwork versus the Indian spinners and batted with command and dominance against the seamers for his unbeaten 75 off 63 balls.
At the other end, Klaasen used the sweep shot to very good effect facing Bishnoi and Kuldeep and then unleashed his big-hitting prowess against Siraj and Avesh for an equally impressive 74* off 65 balls, featuring 6 fours and 2 sixes.
The Indian run-chase began in stark contrast to the way South Africa’s first-innings effort ended, with the hosts losing openers Shubman Gill (3) and Shikhar Dhawan (4) early to some high-quality bowling from Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell.
The Rabada-Parnell duo used the nature of the surface to exercise incredible control on proceedings for the visitors, giving follow-up batters Ishan Kishan (20) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (19) absolutely zero breathing space in a partnership that went nowhere.
India were 51/4 in the 18th over, left to chase over 9 an over. It required a marvellous counterattack from Shreyas Iyer to reignite confidence within the Indian camp. The Indian right-hander was severe against the South African spinners and blasted his way to 50 off 37 balls in a momentum-swinging 67-run partnership with Sanju Samson, who was India’s hero with the bat in hand.
Samson didn’t hit a ball in anger for the better part of his innings, planning to take the game deep after recognising India have a weak tail to follow Iyer’s dismissal. He found a promising partner in Thakur at No.7, who made an encouraging 33 off 31, but had to quickly own the stage completely to keep the Indian hopes alive. What followed was an exhibition of Samson’s quality and range for a terrific knock of 86 not out off 63 balls.
The only blip to the Samson knock was him giving too much of a strike to the Indian tail-enders in the penultimate over, with him facing only 2 balls off the nine leading into the 40th over bowled by Tabraiz Shamsi with 30 runs needed. Samson still dispatched the wristspinner for 21 of those as India fell only two big hits short after a horrible start to their chase.
Brief score
South Africa 249/4 in 40 overs (Miller 75*, Klaasen 74*; Thakur 2/35) beat India 240/8 in 40 overs (Samson 86*, Iyer 50; Ngidi 3/52) by 9 runs
