India defended their total with vigour to thrash South Africa by 82 runs in Rajkot on Friday, a victory that kept the series alive ahead of the fifth and final decider on Sunday.
Having won the toss and electing to bowl first for the fourth straight match, the Proteas broke through early on, with Lungi Ngidi claiming Ruturaj Gaikwad’s scalp in the second over through a nick behind to the returning Quinton de Kock.
Marco Jansen struck precisely an over later when an inswinger pinged Shreyas Iyer’s pad for an LBW, which was originally given not-out, but upon a successful review from SA, it had been overturned.
It was Anrich Nortje’s turn to wallop in the seventh over when a short delivery bettered Ishan Kishan as the opener top-edged it to De Kock to be sent walking for 27.
After dropping Rishabh Pant in the 12th over at backward point, Keshav Maharaj, as the bowler, claimed the wicket of the Indian captain the following over after he’d top-edged it to short third man.
With India having smashed three 6s and eight 4s over the next three overs, gaining valuable momentum, Ngidi cracked that ascendency by capturing Hardik Pandya’s wicket in the 19th over. Pandya scored 46 off 31 balls.
In the final over, another Indian danger man, Dinesh Karthik, was dismissed for 55 off 27 deliveries after sweeping it to deep backward square. Dwaine Pretorius took the spoils.
India smashed 73 off the last five overs and 16 off the final six to post 169/6.
The Proteas got off to a bit of a stagnating start in their pursuit, with captain Temba Bavuma retiring hurt in the fourth over with an elbow strain. To make matters worse, De Kock was run out for 14 the following over.
Pretorius then nicked the ball behind after a failed leg slog to depart for a duck in the sixth over.
Following a haul of dots, ones and twos – with the sparse boundary – Heinrich Klaasen was dismissed for an LBW in the ninth over after missing a sweep.
Ominously, SA’s primordial weapon, David Miller, was bowled for just 8 in the 11th over as their chase began to look precarious.
Their gloomy innings continued, as they lost three wickets inside the 14th over, that of Rassie van der Dussen (20), Jansen (12) and Maharaj for zero.
At the end of the 15th over Nortje edged the ball to point to be sent packing for just a single run.
SA were put out of their misery when Ngidi was discharged for 4 at the end of the 16th over as defeat confronted them. With Bavuma having been hurt, nine wickets meant India did enough to win.
Photo: CSA
