Kohli century, Thakur four-for cements India dominance
Having secured the series and the No.1 spot in the MRF Tyres ODI Rankings with victory in the fifth ODI against South Africa, India underlined their white-ball dominance with a resounding eight-wicket win in the sixth and final ODI, the overall margin 5-1 to India.
India won the toss and elected to bowl, making one change to their team, Shardul Thakur replacing his fellow fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was rested. It was the new man, playing just his third ODI and his first of the series, who took the new ball and made early inroads, claiming the wickets of both openers in his opening spell, adding two further wickets to finish with 4/52. His figures were just reward for an inventive and resilient spell – he recovered from being struck for two boundaries in his first three ball, claimed the wicket of Aiden Markram four deliveries after the same batsman had struck him for the first six of the innings, and finished off proceedings by claiming the wicket of Andile Phehlukwayo with a cleverly disguised knuckle-ball, having been smashed for consecutive sixes earlier in the same over.
Thakur aside, it was the usual suspects who did the damage for India. Jasprit Bumrah has been excellent but overshadowed throughout the series, claiming at least a wicket in each game and only once conceding more than 32, and he impressed again, taking 2/24, his dismissal of Heinrich Klaasen initiating a middle-order slide of 4/16.
Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal took 2/38, bringing his tally for the series to 16. His victims today were AB de Villiers – whose dismissal, bowled aiming a cut at a ball that went straight on rather than turning away, ended a promising 62-run third wicket partnership – and Khaya Zondo, who holed out for 54, South Africa’s only half-century of the innings.
And while Kuldeep Yadav was ineffective by his standards, claiming 1/51 to finish with 17 wickets for the series, one shy of the record for wickets in a bilateral ODI series, Kohli smashed through the records in his sights with a third century of the series, making a mockery of a sluggish surface and a target of 205 to finish with 558 runs from six innings, far outstripping the previous marker for a bilateral ODI contest, Rohit Sharma’s 491 against Australia in 2013.
Having been India’s bedrock throughout this tour, with the series won Kohli finally allowed himself to cut loose, tallying 19 fours and two sixes, finishing an unbeaten 129 from 96 balls, reducing the South African fielders to bystanders, and his batting partners to onlookers.
Lungi Ngidi was the only bowler to have any success for the Proteas, claiming the wickets of Rohit Sharma for 15 to leave India 19/1 and Shikhar Dhawan for 18 to leave them 80/2. By then, however, Kohli was ominously placed on 38 from 29 balls, and in this form, once he’s in, there seems no getting him out.