Kohli, Thakur take India to cusp of win
SIXTH ODI India captain cracks 35th ODI century in chase after Shardul’s fourwicket haul restricts South Africa to 204
CENTURION: India skipper Virat Kohli went for the kill in the dead rubber with a full strength team as the dirge sounded for the South African batsmen in the final ODI on Friday.
After sealing the series in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday by going 4-1, Kohli had said he could bring in a few fresh faces, but at the same time insisted that winning the series in a thumping way would be a priority.
He led from the front, stroking his 35th ODI century as India crusied towards victory and a 5-1 series margin against the demoralised hosts.
Any other captain would have used the opportunity of playing a dead rubber to blood a few youngsters, but the India skipper faced such a torrid time, and criticism, in the first half of the series that he probably thought a great scoreline in ODIs would bury the loss in the Test series.
They brought in Shardul Thakur in place of out-of-form Bhuvneswar Kumar for the only change while the hosts made four changes.
South Africa duly obliged, helping Kohli’s cause as their batting folded again, showing no guts on a wicket that was good for batting. They folded for 204 in the 47th over. India cruised towards victory with Virat Kohli leading, despite losing Rohit Sharma early again.
The India skipper, at the time of going into print, was on 103 (80 balls) and had become the first batsman ever to score 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series. This was his third century in the series, 35th in his career.
India were 165/2 after 27 overs. With Friday’s knock, Kohli went past Rohit Sharma for most runs in a bilateral series. Rohit had scored 491 against Australia in 2013-14.
While the South African batsmen struggled, with only Khaya Zondo showing patience, composure and willingness in his fifty, Kohli simply blazed through.
Kohli had scored two centuries in the series ahead of this game, 112 not out at Durban in the first match and 160 not out at Cape Town in the third.
Although the India skipper had been fortunate on a few occasions, with catches missed and a couple of umpiring decisions going his way, there has been no doubt he has looked unbeatable. While the Proteas got him run out once, they failed to topple him on two occasions -- three if you include that he was still unbeaten in the last game at the time of
going into print. The India skipper, who had been targeted with short deliveries in Test matches and in the earlier part of this series, took the Proteas bowlers on Friday head on, hammering their short deliveries.
South Africa wasted a good start. Perhaps it was the fear of spinners that led them to give three of the top five wickets to medium-pacer Shardul Thakur . If it was, it showed how much they have been psyched out.