Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla shared a record-breaking day to set up the Proteas for another massive victory by 134 runs over India in the second Momentum ODI at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead and a series triumph with a match to spare. Question marks over Team India’s abilities to play in overseas conditions resurfaced as South Africa routed the Men in Blue. In a match that was shortened by rain, the Indian batsmen never seemed to be in command while going about their chase. South Africa on the other hand, came back strongly after their mediocre showing against Pakistan in the last series and notched up a series victory that was scripted by a certain Quinton de Kock. Kock, barely 20 years of age followed up his century at Johannesburg with another one today – signaling his arrival in world cricket. De Kock completed back-to-back ODI centuries to match the performances of Amla and Herschelle Gibbs while Amla notched up his 12th ODI century and in the process became the quickest batsman to score 4 000 ODI runs, doing so in four matches and seven innings faster than the legendary Sir Vivian Richards.
De Kock became the fourth batsman – the others are Peter Stirling of Ireland and Shahriah Nafees and Tamim Iqbal, both of Bangladesh – to score three ODI centuries before his 21st birthday. He comes of age on Tuesday week. The partnership of 190 between De Kock and Amla was also a ground record, beating the 170 by Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist for Australia in 2002. To cap it all De Kock won his second successive Man-of-the-Match award.
Indian skipper, MS Dhoni opted to bowl first after winning the toss, on a track that he suggested seemed drier than the one his team played on, in Johannesburg, the other day. After Team India’s inept showing in the previous one-dayer, the captain hoped that a slightly different looking Indian XI could bring an end to India’s dismal run in overseas tours. So, Yuvraj Singh missed out due to a niggle and was replaced by Ajinkya Rahane, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma made way for Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. But hope was something Dhoni could actually hope for as Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock seemed to have taken a liking towards any kind of Indian bowling. The duo put up a 194 run opening stand, which happened to be the first hundred run partnership in ODIs at Durban since 2002. And had de Kock not lost his wicket during the run of play, the two of them could have piled on India’s miseries further. By the time Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed de Kock, the batsman had already scored 106 from 118 deliveries, bringing up his second consecutive one-day international hundred. The century that took two hours to come, came with the help of some glorious shots – there were some lovely drives down the ground, some flicks to fine leg, the occasional cut-shots square of the wicket and that one shimmy down the track to hit Suresh Raina for a four. Soon after de Kock, AB de Villiers came and went, without troubling the opposition much but South Africa’s run machine, Hashim Amla seemed unfazed by the fall of two wickets in quick succession. He went on to score his 12th ODI century with Zen-like calmness. India got to see Amla’s back immediately after he reached his ton, thanks to some good bowling by Mohammad Shami. The Bengal fast bowler purchased some extra bounce from the wicket and got the better of Amla in the process, with the South African opener nicking it to Dhoni, behind the stumps. South Africa were 233/3 at that stage. It was after Amla’s dismissal that India managed to stem the flow of runs, with wickets at regular intervals. Mohammad Shami got rid of David Miller and Jacques Kallis while JP Duminy got himself run out, attempting a second run when it wasn’t there. However, it was the ultimate over of South Africa’s innings that allowed the Proteas to carry some momentum into the dressing room, as Vernon Philander and Ryan McLaren delivered some meaty blows to make the most of the run-scoring opportunities, Umesh Yadav provided them with. Twenty runs off the last over, propelled South Africa to a commanding 280/6.
Coming out to bat, a lot was expected from the Indian openers after their poor showing in Johannesburg and especially considering that 281 runs had to be chased down in difficult conditions. But Dale Steyn reaffirmed what he had said in a pre-match press conference, about Durban being very different from Mumbai, by dismissing Shikhar Dhawan for 0. The Indian opener slashed hard at a length ball, outside off, but failed to keep it down as it went straight into the hands of Duminy, standing at backward point. Soon after that, Virat Kohli too, fell without troubling the scorers while attempting to steer the ball down to third man. Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who often plays under the shadow of his more illustrious bowling colleagues, provided two crucial blows by not only dismissing Kohli but by following it up with the wicket of Rohit Sharma. The Mumbai batsman who came into the series with a lot of hype surrounding his recent performances, failed to keep a pull shot down and got caught at short-midwicket by Hashim Amla. The capitulation continued with Rahane’s wicket off Morne Morkel’s bowling (and a dubious decision). So when India’s crisis man, MS Dhoni walked into the middle, his team was tottering at 34/4. On any given day, you could expect the Indian skipper to pull off a coup and save India from the jaws of an inglorious defeat. But today was not that day, as Dhoni scratched around before getting out for 19. In fact, his Chennai Super Kings team mates couldn’t do much either as the team got bowled out for 146 runs within 36 overs.
With the series in South Africa’s kitty, the Proteas would want to try out their bench strength in the Dead Rubber 3rd ODI in Centurion on December 11th. But for India, the dead-rubber would be a chance to redeem any kind of pride that one usually associates with World Champions.
De Kock became the fourth batsman – the others are Peter Stirling of Ireland and Shahriah Nafees and Tamim Iqbal, both of Bangladesh – to score three ODI centuries before his 21st birthday. He comes of age on Tuesday week. The partnership of 190 between De Kock and Amla was also a ground record, beating the 170 by Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist for Australia in 2002. To cap it all De Kock won his second successive Man-of-the-Match award.
Indian skipper, MS Dhoni opted to bowl first after winning the toss, on a track that he suggested seemed drier than the one his team played on, in Johannesburg, the other day. After Team India’s inept showing in the previous one-dayer, the captain hoped that a slightly different looking Indian XI could bring an end to India’s dismal run in overseas tours. So, Yuvraj Singh missed out due to a niggle and was replaced by Ajinkya Rahane, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma made way for Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. But hope was something Dhoni could actually hope for as Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock seemed to have taken a liking towards any kind of Indian bowling. The duo put up a 194 run opening stand, which happened to be the first hundred run partnership in ODIs at Durban since 2002. And had de Kock not lost his wicket during the run of play, the two of them could have piled on India’s miseries further. By the time Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed de Kock, the batsman had already scored 106 from 118 deliveries, bringing up his second consecutive one-day international hundred. The century that took two hours to come, came with the help of some glorious shots – there were some lovely drives down the ground, some flicks to fine leg, the occasional cut-shots square of the wicket and that one shimmy down the track to hit Suresh Raina for a four. Soon after de Kock, AB de Villiers came and went, without troubling the opposition much but South Africa’s run machine, Hashim Amla seemed unfazed by the fall of two wickets in quick succession. He went on to score his 12th ODI century with Zen-like calmness. India got to see Amla’s back immediately after he reached his ton, thanks to some good bowling by Mohammad Shami. The Bengal fast bowler purchased some extra bounce from the wicket and got the better of Amla in the process, with the South African opener nicking it to Dhoni, behind the stumps. South Africa were 233/3 at that stage. It was after Amla’s dismissal that India managed to stem the flow of runs, with wickets at regular intervals. Mohammad Shami got rid of David Miller and Jacques Kallis while JP Duminy got himself run out, attempting a second run when it wasn’t there. However, it was the ultimate over of South Africa’s innings that allowed the Proteas to carry some momentum into the dressing room, as Vernon Philander and Ryan McLaren delivered some meaty blows to make the most of the run-scoring opportunities, Umesh Yadav provided them with. Twenty runs off the last over, propelled South Africa to a commanding 280/6.
Coming out to bat, a lot was expected from the Indian openers after their poor showing in Johannesburg and especially considering that 281 runs had to be chased down in difficult conditions. But Dale Steyn reaffirmed what he had said in a pre-match press conference, about Durban being very different from Mumbai, by dismissing Shikhar Dhawan for 0. The Indian opener slashed hard at a length ball, outside off, but failed to keep it down as it went straight into the hands of Duminy, standing at backward point. Soon after that, Virat Kohli too, fell without troubling the scorers while attempting to steer the ball down to third man. Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who often plays under the shadow of his more illustrious bowling colleagues, provided two crucial blows by not only dismissing Kohli but by following it up with the wicket of Rohit Sharma. The Mumbai batsman who came into the series with a lot of hype surrounding his recent performances, failed to keep a pull shot down and got caught at short-midwicket by Hashim Amla. The capitulation continued with Rahane’s wicket off Morne Morkel’s bowling (and a dubious decision). So when India’s crisis man, MS Dhoni walked into the middle, his team was tottering at 34/4. On any given day, you could expect the Indian skipper to pull off a coup and save India from the jaws of an inglorious defeat. But today was not that day, as Dhoni scratched around before getting out for 19. In fact, his Chennai Super Kings team mates couldn’t do much either as the team got bowled out for 146 runs within 36 overs.
With the series in South Africa’s kitty, the Proteas would want to try out their bench strength in the Dead Rubber 3rd ODI in Centurion on December 11th. But for India, the dead-rubber would be a chance to redeem any kind of pride that one usually associates with World Champions.
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