Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen’s fantastic centuries proved to be the difference as South Africa prevented India from reaching their target of 297 in the 1st ODI at Boland Park.
In the first ODI between South Africa and India at Paarl, South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first, setting India a challenging 297 runs to win.
On a slow wicket, South Africa lost Jaaneman Malan, Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram early. Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen rebuilt spectacularly with a 114-run partnership, with both batters scoring magnificent centuries.
Bavuma scored 110 off 143 balls, and van der Dussen finished with 129 off 96 balls. While Bavuma anchored the innings with a patient knock, Van Der Dussen was at his aggressive best, taking the attack to the Indian bowlers.
It was swinging in the morning which did give the South African batters some issues early on but Bavuma and Van der Dussen put on an excellent 204-run partnership off 184 balls – Rassie contributed 108 of those runs while Bavuma provided 87 of those crucial runs to help the Proteas go way above the predicted par score on the ground.
This was the highest 4th-wicket partnership for the Proteas against India.
The Proteas batted beautifully and it was now up to the bowlers to put in their shift to keep a talented India lineup at bay.
Question marks were raised when Bavuma allowed his part-time spinner Aiden Markram and debutant Marco Jansen to open the bowling.
Shikhar Dhawan, in particular, was finding scoring options quite easily scoring at a run a ball in the first 8 overs. Markram did get the wicket of KL Rahul in the 9th over, but it never halted India from climbing above the required run rate.
Virat Kohli joined Dhawan and the pair put India ahead of the worm, scoring 92 off 102 deliveries. Dhawan was the chief run-getter, he scored 45 runs in the partnership to Kholi’s 43, India moving into the 130s by the halfway stage.
It took Keshav Maharaj 8 overs of tight bowling before Bavuma’s trust in him paid off, he spun in a delivery from far outside off stump which clattered into the stumps of Dhawan. He scored 79 off 84 balls.
Kohli saw India past 150, but he too was dismissed at the perfect time, Tabraiz Shamsi picked up his wicket after a well-played 51 off 63 balls.
India’s next partnership was also at a run a ball between Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, but just as the momentum shifted to the visitors, Lungi Ngidi’s slow-ball bouncer brushed the glove to De Kock behind the stumps.
Andile Phehlukwayo then sparked a brilliant stumping from De Kock to see Pant back in the pavilion for 16. The momentum was now back in South Africa’s favour.
Ngidi then bombed in another short ball, but this time to Venkatesh Iyer who pulled the delivery straight to Van der Dussen at deep square leg. Lack of bounce saw Phehlukwayo dismiss Ravichandran Ashwin, as SA were on the verge of victory.
With 10 overs remaining India needed 96 runs.
Shamsi took his second to dismiss Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as India were throttled on 214/8. It was now just up to SA to take the final two wickets or see out the remaining balls for victory.
Thakur, however, did not make it easy for the hosts. His 50 off 43 balls took India’s score to 265/8.
SA won by 31 runs.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
