South Africa vs India 2018: 5 subtle reasons why Kohli & Co. lost the 4th ODI
South Africa continued their unbeaten streak in the Pink ODIs as they denied India a whitewash in the 6-match ODI series at Johannesburg. This makes the scoreline 3-1 and hence keeps the series alive.
After India lost the match, there was the obvious talk that Pink ODIs brought back some luck for the Proteas and that AB de Villiers had a positive impact on the team. The efforts of David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen and Andile Phehlukwayo were also lauded. But these were just the apparent reasons. There were many others which were downplayed a bit. This article presents those very reasons which led to India's defeat at the Wanderers.
#1 Spinners put under pressure
It was for the first time in the ODI series that the Indian spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav was subjected to some pressure. Frankly speaking, when the likes of de Villiers, Miller, Klaasen and Phehlukwayo cut loose, the spin twins could not exactly come up with an effective response.
Chahal tried to bowl a few deliveries outside the off stump but they did not work this time around. When attacked, both spinners lost their length and ended up bowling a lot of half-trackers. They bowled 11.3 overs between them and gave away 119 runs, picking up just 3 wickets.