Yuzvendra, Kuldeep spin a web around Proteas batsmen
FIRST ODI Wrist spinners take two wickets each to keep India in hunt for their first win against SA at Kingsmead DURBAN:
Virat Kohli’s decision to go in with his two trusted wrist spinners paid dividends as India midway through the innings looked on path to setting their record straight here at the Kingsmead.India, who have never beaten South Africa in an ODI here, gave themselves a platform to pick their first win here, in the first one-dayer of the six-match series, although as the South Africa innings progressed things began to appear more challenging.
Both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal picked two wickets each in the early part of the play and throttled the run rate as the Proteas struggled to 134/5 before Chris Morris and Faf du Plessis did the repair work and brought the Proteas back into the game.
At 40 overs, Morris and Du Plessis had put on an unbeaten 64 for the sixth wicket.
South Africa had won the toss and like they’ve done on previous occasions here, elected to bat. On the last three occasions, they have thrashed India by over a hundred runs.
However, this time they sputtered even after getting a decent start. Although Hashim Amla fell early, leg before to Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock continued his form in white ball cricket and looked an entirely different batsman from what he was in Test match cricket.
He played his strokes and Faf du Plessis found his form. They found the pace of the wicket to their liking. However, arrival of the spinners threw the spanner in their works. De Kock was out leg before to Chahal and soon after his dismissal, Aiden Markram, who replaced AB de Villiers at No. 4, fell to the same bowler off a flick that he failed to keep on the ground.
The experienced JP Duminy couldn’t read Kuldeep’s googly while hard-hitter David Miller was also dismissed by the Chinaman.
At 134/5, it looked India’s game. But both Du Plessis and Morris ensured that the Proteas weren’t out. To his credit, Du Plessis never liked like getting tied down and kept his strike rate at a reasonable level.