Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen’s fantastic centuries helped South Africa post 296/4 in the 1st ODI against India 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 is now up to the bowlers to put in their shift with the ball to keep a talented India lineup at bay.