Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.
Venue – Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town [February 7, 2018].
In the previous post, we talked about what happened in the first one-day international. In this blog we will be talking about the third ODI. Team India was 2-0 up after the second ODI in Centurion ended in a comfortable win for the visitors. The margin of victory just kept getting better for the men in blue as they won the second ODI by 9 wickets, which in fact is India's biggest winning margin against South Africa in ODIs, in terms of wickets.
The action now shifted to Cape Town, wherein the Proteas captain, Aiden Markram, won the toss and decided to field first. It turned out to be a remarkable decision, as Rabada dismissed Rohit Sharma for a duck in the very first over. The Indian scorecard read 0/1 when Captain Kohli joined Dhawan in the middle. Interestingly, Kohli was given leg before in the 3rd over of the innings at the bowling of Rabada. However, Kohli took a review in which we saw that the ball first touched the bat. As a result, the decision of the on-field umpire was changed, and Kohli survived.
After this, Kohli stitched a magnificent partnership of 140 runs with Dhawan, and the Indians were back into the game. However, Duminy got the important breakthrough in the 24th over as Dhawan was caught by the Proteas captain off Duminy's bowling. The Indian scorecard read 140/2 when Shikhar got out for a well-made 76.
A lot was still left in the game, but post Dhawan's departure we witnessed the fall of wickets at regular intervals. However, Captain Kohli stood his ground and continued to hammer the Proteas. King Kohli scored an incredible 160* as India posted a massive total of 303/6 in 50 overs. It is interesting to note that Virat Kohli, who came in the second over, batted till the very last ball of the innings. The innings lasted for 159 deliveries and 3.5 hours. Moreover, the most fascinating thing about this knock is that out of 160 runs, 100 runs were scored by running between the wickets. There were only 12 boundaries and 2 sixes in this marathon innings of his, which shows us the fitness and athleticism of our captain. The Newlands crowd were up on their feet, as what they saw was a classical knock by one of the cricketers of our times.
The target of 304 was not going to be easy for the Proteas. Even though they started off pretty well, the duo of Kuldeep and Chahal just kept picking wickets as the hosts got bundled out for just 179 runs in 40 overs. The duo of Kul-Cha picked up 4 wickets each as the Men in Blue won the game by 124 runs and took a 3-0 lead in the series.
Captain Kohli was awarded the man of the match award for his excellent century as Indians looked unstoppable on the South African shores.
To watch the Highlights of that Match, Click Here.
To watch the Innings of Virat Kohli, Click Here.
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