Cape Town: Virat Kohli (160 not out) and the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav (4/23) and Yuzvendra Chahal (4/46) starred as India thump South Africa to win the third ODI and take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the six-match series at the Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday. Chasing 304 runs to win, South Africa were bundled out for 179 runs as India won the third ODI by 124 runs.
Having lost the first two matches without putting up a tough fight, the Proteas were given hopes of reviving the series early on after Kagiso Rabada dismissed Rohit Sharma for nought.
However, it was the partnership between Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan once again that pushed the opposition on the back foot. The duo stitched an instrumental 160-run partnership before JP Duminy got rid of the southpaw.
Despite Kohli continuing to score runs all around the park, the India skipper couldn’t help from losing partners at the other end. The visitors found themselves 6 wickets down, but that did not rattle Kohli, as the right-hander went to bring up his 34th ODI ton.
For the 7th wicket, Kohli struck another crucial fifty-run partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the Men in Blue finished at 303-6.
While South Africa lost Hashim Amla early, Markram and JP Duminy looked good before the Indian spinners entered the frame. In his first over, Kuldeep dismissed Markram and the likes of Klassen and Duminy followed soon after. Although David Miller and Khaya Zondo managed to survive the Indian spinners’ onslaught, Miller was dismissed by Bumrah. Spinners soon took over to run through the South Africa lower order as the hometeam were all out for 179.is is not even funny now. Phehlukwayo departs. Kohli catches it. Eight down.
.@msdhoni becomes the first Indian wicket-keeper to effect 400 dismissals in ODIs! pic.twitter.com/TSnCNk26wx
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 7, 2018
