4th ODI: Proteas beat India in nail-biting finish

India has played four ODIs on this ground and is yet to register a win at the venue.

Klaasen delivered a delightful unbeaten knock of 43 from 27 balls‚ showing off a wide range of strokeplay that even returning teammate AB de Viliers would be proud of to plunder five boundaries and one six‚ as South Africa took the series to 3-1 with two matches in Port Elizabeth and Centurion remaining.

Thunder and lightning forced players off the field, and there was a brief rain shower as well. South Africa kept the slate clean in the Pink-Day games, having now won all six of them.

The Proteas had two good breaks from the weather interruptions.

That India were able to reach 289/7 was exclusively down to MS Dhoni’s effort of 42* off 43 balls. A simple catch was dropped, spinners bowled no-balls, fielders leaked runs… like a bunch of amateurs. Of course, the constant rain interruptions didn’t help, which only made the ball more wet and hard for the leg spinners to grip the ball. Our spinners couldn’t turn the ball or grip the ball the way they did in the last three matches.

Kohli was gutted to have lost, and said: “The second innings, we got a difference of 35 between runs and balls. That’s the reason”, he added. “Miller also played very well”.

Earlier during the Indian innings, Kagiso Rabada got the breakthrough in the fourth over when he caught and bowled Rohit Sharma on five runs. Like our spinners don’t often bowl noballs.

Miller celebrated his luck by smashing pacer Hardik Pandya for three consecutive boundaries in the next over and the momentum abruptly turned in the hosts’ favour.

WICKET! This is a big blow for India, Virat Kohli dismissed for 75 by Chris Morris. The new target of 202 meant that South Africa required around eight runs an over to get over the line. “I think they played with a lot of character in the end, they pulled through, they deserved to win”, Kohli said after the match.

India cricket team is one of the most powerful team in cricket World and most of the time, they used to play home tournament against others.

“When AB got out we felt we were in the game but these two took it away from us”. The pitch got faster in the evening, the guys didn’t settle in the second half.

Kohli stamped his authority as he continued to punish the South African bowlers. Even if they get hit, they will learn lot of things.

With India cruising, the Proteas found themselves in an all too familiar position where India were dominating the game.

Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal need to wickets each to go past Lonwabo Tsotsobe and become the highest wicket-taker in a bilateral ODI series between the two countries.

Kohli looked unstoppable and the highlight of his innings was a straight six off Lungi Ngidi (2-52) as the batsman just walked down and launched him over the sightscreen.

Dhawan spoke in support of the young spinners. While many have not seen him enough with the gloves, his unbeaten 43 in the Wanderers was something impressive, to say the least. They have been doing very well, more than well for us.

Despite practicing with local wrist spinners at Newlands, the Proteas’ batting line-up still collapsed against the Indian spin duo, with both Chahal and Kuldeep taking four wickets apiece.