10 Best Individual Performances in Ind-SA ODIs
Both India and South Africa are evenly matched in the 50-over formatEver since South Africa’s induction back into the fold of world cricket, they’ve shared an interesting camaraderie with India. Their Boards are good friends and have bailed each other out time and time again. They have played each other quite a bit. India and South Africa have toured each other a lot as well. While South Africa hold the edge in Tests, the teams have been more evenly matched in One Day Internationals.The present series is important considering the Saffers have never won a bilateral ODI series. However, the two teams have churned out some memorable performances over the years, bringing the best out of each other’s players.The cricket is usually top notch and there have been some historical games as well. India’s batting might and spin treasures have pitted well against South Africa’s dashers and speedsters making for enthralling watching.Here, we look at some of the best individual performances with bat and ball witnessed in Ind – SA ODI games. Mind you, some good performances, like Dhawan’s two centuries, one in the World Cup and one in the Champions Trophy just miss out along with Steyn’s five-for in the 2011 World Cup, because factors like the quality of wickets and runs, the support available and the stage in the game when the contributions were made had to be taken into consideration along with the class of the actual performance itself on an absolute level.
#10 Lonwabo Tsotsobe, 10-2-22-4, Johannesburg, 2011
Tsotsobe’s brilliant performance came in a losing cause, but it was he who gave South Africa a great chance to win the match. India were cruising, batting first at 150 for three, when Tsotsobe coming back towards the end got Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni after having taken Murali Vijay’s wicket at the top.
India were all out for 190. South Africa floundered in the chase thanks to another brilliant bowling performance from Munaf Patel (4-29), India winning the match eventually by just 1 run, collapsing from 152 for four to 189 all out.