CAPESIZED!
India sink to humiliating 0-3 series defeat
Cape Town, Jan. 23: India failed to avoid a series whitewash against a South African team in transition despite Deepak Chahar’s scintillating 34-ball 54, losing the third one-day match by four runs here on Sunday to end a disastrous tour of the ‘Rainbow Nation’.
Asked to take first strike, South Africa were all out for 287 after Quinton de Kock’s attacking hundred and Rassie van der Dussen’s fluent half-century.
In reply, India were all out for 283 in 49.2 overs, completely mis-handling a chase that should have been completed smoothly.
Having taken two wickets with the ball, Chahar blazed away with the bat and hit five fours and two sixes, but his effort was not enough in the end.
All in all, the limited overs series turned out to be one of the most disappointing outings for India in recent years, especially after having blanked the South Africa in their backyard in 2018.
They began the tour on a rousing note, winning the opening Test by 113 runs but lost the plot thereafter, failing miserably to challenge the South Africans.
Looking to restore some pride in their last match of the tour, India overhauled their playing XI by making as many as four changes, bringing in Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Deepak Chahar and Prasidh
Krishna.
The ones to miss out were Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Venkatesh Iyer and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The changes did not bring about a change in India’s fortunes as Suryakumar was dismissed for 39 off 32 balls.
India were last clean swept in an away Oneday series by New Zealand (0-3) in 2020 under Virat Kohli.
— PTI