India's wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav ran through the South African side in the second ODI and bundled out the hosts in their lowest score at home and help India take a 2-0 lead in 6-match series. The spinners shared eight wickets between them and helped India to register a nine-wicket victory over South Africa. However, their moment of triumph was reduced to a farce by the umpires.
Aleem Dar and Adrian Holdstock stuck to the rules and called for a lunch break with the tourists needing just two runs for a win. That ensured the final act was played out 40 minutes later in front of a sparse crowd, a decision that left both teams bemused. Chahal finished with five for 22 in 8.2 overs, ripping through the middle-order, as India skittled out the hosts for 118, South Africa’s lowest total at home. India reached the target in the 21st over.
India always looked in control of the chase as opener Shikhar Dhawan (51 not out from 56 balls) and captain Virat Kohli (46 not out from 50 balls) made light work of the South African attack. The decision to call for lunch with the game all but over was one of the talking points of the match, but it did not overshadow what was a dominant display from a highly impressive Indian unit.
Left-arm spinner Yadav finished with figures of three for 20 in six overs as South Africa slipped from 51 for one to lose its last nine wickets for 67 runs. The hosts were captained by 23-year-old Aiden Markram in just his third ODI game. They made a cautious start, losing their first wicket in the 10th over with just 39 on the scoreboard. Hashim Amla (23) was the batsman dismissed. The introduction of the spinners triggered the collapse, with Chahal picking up the wickets of joint top-scorers Jean-Paul Duminy and debutant Khaya Zondo who both scored 25. The third ODI will be played in Cape Town on Wednesday.
India win 1st ODI by six wickets
During the 1st ODI at the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane gave a batting display as India romped home to a six-wicket win. Chasing 270 for a win, India lost two wickets before touching 70 - Rohit Sharma (20) & Shikhar Dhawan (35) - before the third-wicket partnership between Kohli (112) and Rahane (79) took the game away from the hosts. Towards the end of the chase, when India began playing shots in the air, wickets looked possible for the South Africans, and they did walk away with Rahane and Kohli's scalps. However, by then, with Kohli already having registered his 33rd century, India were knocking on the doors of a comfortable win.
Theirs was a 189-run partnership for the third wicket in which they made South Africa's attack look toothless. In the process, be it Imran Tahir - the world's top-ranked one-day bowler, or Kagiso Rabada - the world's top-ranked Test bowler, India took a toll on them all. It was South Africa's inability to slow down the proceedings that allowed India to largely dominate the game, barring SA skipper Faf du Plessis' exceptional century.
