India maintain their record at Indore, beat South Africa by 22 runs
India won the toss for the first time with the new toss coin and captain MS Dhoni was happy to choose to bat first on a track that would assist a run-feast. Indore was where Virender Sehwag scored his ODI double century. Another factor in India's willingness to bat first was that the dew would come into play only after 8:30 pm.
South Africa went in with an unchanged side while India made three changes with Axar Patel, Harbhajan Singh, and Mohit Sharma replacing the injured Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, and Stuart Binny.
India XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni (C & Wk), Suresh Raina, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav.
South Africa XI: Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (Wk), Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers (C), David Miller, Jean-Paul Duminy, Farhaan Behardien, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
India propelled to a decent total by the captain
South Africa started off well, bowling in the right areas. The 20-year-old Kagiso Rabada finally got the breakthrough for his side in the second over, when he bowled Rohit Sharma out and silenced the Indian fans in the stadium.
India were in a spot of bother at 3-1 after losing their in-form batsman in Rohit. Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan then started building a healthy partnership. Rahane looked good from the very first ball, timing the ball with perfection.
Rahane and Dhawan brought up their 50-run partnership in the 12th over. However, Morkel picked up Dhawan's wicket when the batsman chipped the ball to JP Duminy at short cover. Dhawan again failed to build on a decent start, getting out in the 20s leaving India at 59-2.
Some sloppy running from India in the 18th over led to Virat Kohli getting run-out. Rahane lobbed Steyn to mid-off, where Behardien dived but failed to latch on to the catch. After completing the first run, Kohli was racing back to complete the second run, not seeing that his partner was saying no and remained unmoved. Kohli looked extremely displeased after his dismissal.
Rahane brought up a well-deserved fifty with a brilliant upper cut off Morkel. However, he had to go back the very next over when Tahir bowled him around his legs. India lost another wicket immediately when a struggling Raina got caught behind off Morkel, leaving India in a troublesome position at 104-5.
After sticking around for a while with captain Dhoni, Axar Patel remained rooted in the crease and was given LBW off the bowling of Steyn. This dismissal left India reeling at 124-6.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in at number eight and helped stabilise the innings. Tahir bowled Kumar out for 14 runs. A track which was meant to be a paradise for batsmen looked exactly the opposite with India at 165-7.
Dhoni kept playing with positive intent and brought up his 60th ODI fifty with a six over long-on off Duminy. Duminy's over turned out to be very expensive for South Africa as Harbhajan scored a four and a six in the same over.
India now looked to set to post a respectable target with both batsmen willing to free their arms to clear the ropes. Harbhajan was caught behind for 22 after hitting Steyn for a boundary the previous delivery.
Umesh Yadav came in at Number 10 and fell cheaply for 4 runs, but not before he pulled Steyn to midwicket for a brilliant boundary. India were now 225-9 with three overs left in the innings, with Dhoni unbeaten on 72.
Dhoni kept most of the strike in the last 18 balls and gave the Indian bowlers something to ball at, helping India set a target of 248. The captain played a brilliant innings of 92 to give the Indian total some respect.
The South African bowlers performed well with Dale Steyn picked up 3 wickets while Morkel and Tahir bagged a couple each. Rabada continued to impress finishing off with figures of 1-49 in his ten overs.
Good bowling and fielding performance by the Indians
The Indian bowlers needed to be at their best in order to stop the South African batting lineup from chasing down the target and keep India's hundred percent record at Indore intact.
Looking for early wickets, in the second over, Yadav found Amla's edge which raced to the boundary through a vacant second slip area.
The openers settled down soon and got off to a good start, scoring 36-0 in six overs. Dhoni got his spinners on to find a breakthrough. After scoring a boundary off young Axar Patel, Amla looked to take on the bowler again but was stumped by the Indian captain.
Indian bowlers were not able to bowl consistently in the right areas as De Kock continued to play his strokes and to good effect. This was until he threw his wicket away going for a lofted drive, but only found Mohit Sharma's safe pair of hands. De Kock made a useful 34 off 36 balls, with South Africa at 52-2 in the 10th over.
JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis started milking the Indian bowlers very well, rotating the strike well to keep the scoreboard ticking. India finally got the breakthrough when Patel trapped Duminy LBW to break the partnership of 82 runs. Captain De Villiers came to the crease, with his team at 134-3.
Du Plessis played some really good shots in his innings and brought up his fifty with a risky single taken off the last ball of the 25th over. However, Du Plessis’ stay on the pitch was short-lived when Patel struck again in his next over, Virat Kohli jumping and latching on to a finish a brilliant catch.
Kumar sent in a brilliant away swinging delivery the very next over to dismiss David Miller for a duck. South Africa were staring at trouble for the first time in the match, at 142-5. He came close to dismissing new batsman Behardien off the last ball of the 27th over, but the edge just fell short of Dhoni.
Axar Patel finished with excellent bowling figures of 3-39 in his ten overs, thus justifying his selection today. This was his best ODI bowling figures.
De Villiers looked to be getting into the mood to take South Africa over the finishing line. But, Kohli had other plans when he dived to his left to complete a brilliant catch off Mohit Sharma's bowling to send the South African captain back to the dressing room, leaving South Africa in trouble at 167-6.
Kohli got his third catch of the match when Steyn sliced Yadav trying to clean the infield. South Africa was now needed 64 runs off 83 balls, with only three wickets in hand.
Behardien and Rabada tried to slowly steer the Proteas towards victory, but Behardien who was the last recognised batsman was given out by Vineet Kulkarni for a caught behind. Replays showed that the ball missed the edge.
Three overs later, in the 44th over, Tahir clearly edged Kumar to Dhoni. Two balls later, Morkel edged and Raina caught a brilliant catch to give India the first victory of the series, levelling the ODI series 1-1. India's record at Indore stayed intact.
Brief Scores:
India 247-9, 50 overs (Dhoni 92*, Rahane 51; Steyn 3-49, Tahir 2-42)
South Africa 225, 50 overs (Du Plessis 51, Duminy 36; Patel 3-39, Kumar 3-41)