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5 Talking Points from India South Africa 2nd ODI: A Kohli-Rahane misunderstanding, a wrong decision which gave India victory

India have won the 2nd ODI of the 5-match series against South Africa by 22 runs, on the back of a true captain’s knock from MS Dhoni and a superlative team effort on the field by the hosts.After seeming to be in control in both the innings, South Africa lost the plot midway both with the bat and ball in hand.The 5 game-changing moments and factors which decided the course of the game, and which have attracted the most opinions on the social media:

#1 Kohli-Rahane misunderstanding puts India innings in disarray

The Kohli run out dented India’s fortunes considerably, but whose fault was it?

Despite losing their openers early, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli were looking in control of the situation with the score at 82/2 in the 18th over. Kohli, batting on 12, was looking especially to play a long innings to check his disappointing run of form in ODIs this year.

However, a moment of misunderstanding between Rahane and Kohli led to a few angry stares exchanged, Kohli’s hopes being dashed and India being in a spot of bother early on in the innings.

Rahane took a single after hitting the ball towards mid-off, and did not respond to Kohli’s calls for a second.

Kohli was the man who would have been running towards the danger end, and was looking for a double from the very beginning. Rahane ran the first one slow, was not looking at his partner while running, and did not even get out of his crease for the second run. Kohli was already too far into his stride in the middle of the pitch when he realised Rahane was not responding, and he was run out at the other end.

Indian fans have, as expected, been polarised in their verdict as to who was to blame for this crucial run-out, but perhaps poor communication was the only villain here.

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