After defeating India in the Test series, South Africa have continued the winning momentum by beating the visitors in the first One-Day International (ODI) of the ongoing three-match ODI series on Wednesday.
Although, India looked comfortable during their run chase of 297 until they lost opener Shikhar Dhawan and former captain Virat Kohli. While Dhawan scored 79, Kohli hit 51 before the middle-order collapsed, and India could only manage to reach 265/8 and lose the contest by 31 runs.
Star Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant came up the order at number four but failed to leave an impact as he was stumped down the leg side by his counterpart Quinton de Kock.
It all happened during the 35th over, bowled by Andile Phehlukwayo. The right-armer came round the stumps and bowled a length delivery which drifted down the leg side. Pant tried to play the flick shot but missed out, and the momentum took him out of his crease. De Kock, who was standing up to the stumps, showed his sharp reflexes and quickly whipped off the bails to get rid of Pant.
Here is the video:
Did you see that?👀 #SAvIND #BetwayODISeries #BePartOfIt | @Betway_India pic.twitter.com/bWLdyNIySx
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) January 19, 2022
In the match, India were outplayed on most occasions. The South African captain Temba Bavuma and batter Rassie van der Dussen smashed respective centuries to take the Proteas close to 300. The tourists failed to pick wickets in the middle, which played a crucial part in South Africa’s total of 296/4, and captain KL Rahul also mentioned it in the post-match presentation.
“It was a nice game. There’s so much to learn. We started off really well, we couldn’t get wickets in the middle. We’ll look to see how we get wickets in the middle overs and stop the opposition. They did really well, they put pressure on the bowlers, and we couldn’t get those wickets in the middle,” said Rahul after the match.
