India got a lot of things right in the match — the toss, its batting line-up and a surface that suited the spinners in the later half of the day.
The mercurial Virat Kohli constructed a century (138) of composure, balance and judicious stroke-play and then the spinners turned on the heat under the lights at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday.
Despite a blend of defiance and typical flair from A.B. de Villiers (112), India won the fourth ODI by 35 runs to draw level at 2-2 with South Africa in the five-match series.
de Villiers on song Even as India made inroads defending 299, de Villiers employed his feet to tackle the spinning ball. He kept a few deliveries out with a combination of flowing movement and soft hands. And the South African picked his moments to step out — such as the magnificent six over deep mid-wicket off Harbhajan Singh — or went deep into the crease for a variety of shots around the wicket.
The South African’s 22nd ODI century oozed character and belief.
It was only when he edged an attempted pull off medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar to wicketkeeper M.S. Dhoni that India breathed easy.
Earlier, Hashim Amla succumbed to a miscued pull off seamer Mohit Sharma.
Amla’s opening partner Quinton de Kock (43 off 35 balls) had taken flight earlier in the day to hold a spectacular leg-side catch with the big gloves to dismiss Shikhar Dhawan.
de Kock could not do so with the bat after a blazing start, falling to a lovely Harbhajan delivery of flight and turn.
Faf du Plessis was in agony when a fierce hit from de Villiers struck his elbow. Soon, he shook his head in disapproval after being adjudged caught behind off steady left-arm spinner Axar Patel. The snicko showed a spike.
More trouble South Africa was in further trouble at 88 for four in the 17th over when Harbhajan, angling the ball into the left-handed David Miller, won a leg-before decision with the batsman playing around the ball.
Harbhajan bowled beautifully from a more side-on release. He was slower through the air and there was some turn and bounce for him from the surface.
Skipper de Villiers and Farhaan Behardien strung together a partnership under pressure before the latter picked the wrong ball from leg-spinner Amit Mishra to sweep. Mishra bowled a teasing line and spun the ball.
The South African attack did not hold the same threat without the injured Morne Morkel — his steeping bounce was missed — but this should not take credit away from Kohli’s innings.
Kohli was decisive in his shot-making. The feature of his innings was the quickness with which he picked the length. This, combined with his bat-speed, gave the bowlers very little room to err.
He also worked the ball around expertly and ran the singles and twos hard. The South African attack could never really build any pressure.
Kohli employed his feet brilliantly against the spinners. He went right back to pull Imran Tahir’s googly for a six and then stepped down to loft left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso for sixes over long-off and long-on.
In fact, Kohli reached his 23rd ODI hundred with a six. It was a wonderfully-paced effort where he also displayed delicate touch with strokes such as the glide.
During his innings under heat and humidity — Kohli was cramping towards the end — he built partnerships which is the life-blood of any innings.
Kohli added 104 in 110 deliveries with Ajinkya Rahane (45) for the third wicket.
And then Kohli and Suresh Raina (53) put on 127 in 112 balls for the fourth wicket.
Although Rahane surfaced at No. 4, the fact that he came out to bat after just 7.5 overs meant he had a harder ball to work around with and this suited his game.
Suresh Raina walked in at No. 5 followed by Dhoni. Raina was fluent and his straight hits off fuller length deliveries from paceman Kagiso Rabada were of high quality.
However, India lost wickets and some momentum towards the end with the fiery Rabada and Dale Steyn combining well at the death with well-directed short-pitched and back-of-a-length deliveries.
The South African spinners disappointed but their Indian counterparts had the final say.
Scoreboard
India: Rohit Sharma c du Plessis b Morris 21 (19b, 4x4), Shikhar Dhawan c de Kock b Rabada 7 (15b), Virat Kohli c de Kock b Rabada 138 (140b, 6x4, 5x6), Ajinkya Rahane c de Kock b Steyn 45 (53b, 4x4), Suresh Raina c de Villiers b Steyn 53 (52b, 3x4, 1x6), M.S. Dhoni c de Villiers b Steyn 15 (16b, 1x4), Harbhajan Singh b Rabada 0 (1b), Axar Patel (not out) 4 (4b), Bhuvneshwar Kumar run out 0 (1b); Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-12): 16; Total (for eight wkts. in 50 overs): 299.
Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Rohit), 2-35 (Dhawan), 3-139 (Rahane), 4-266 (Raina), 5-291 (Kohli), 6-291 (Harbhajan), 7-299 (Dhoni), 8-299 (Bhuvneshwar).
South Africa bowling: Steyn 10-0-61-3, Rabada 10-0-54-3, Morris 9-0-55-1, Phangiso 9-0-51-0, Tahir 9-0-58-0, Behardien 3-0-17-0.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock c Rahane b Harbhajan 43 (35b, 6x4, 1x6), Hashim Amla c Dhawan b Mohit 7 (10b), Faf du Plessis c Dhoni b Axar 17 (34b, 1x4), A.B. de Villiers c Dhoni b Bhuvneshwar 112 (107b, 10x4, 2x6), David Miller lbw b Harbhajan 6 (12b, 1x4), Farhaan Behardien lbw b Mishra 22 (38b, 1x4), Chris Morris run out 9 (18b, 1x4), Aaron Phangiso c Axar b Bhuvneshwar 20 (22b, 1x4), Dale Steyn c Rahane b Bhuvneshwar 6 (7b, 1x4), Kagiso Rabada (not out) 8 (9b, 1x4), Imran Tahir (not out) 4 (10b); Extras (lb-3, w-5, nb-2): 10; Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs): 264.
Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Amla), 2-67 (de Kock), 3-79 (du Plessis), 4-88 (Miller), 5-144 (Behardien), 6-185 (Morris), 7-233 (de Villiers), 8-250 (Phangiso), 9-250 (Steyn).
India bowling: Bhuvneshwar 10-0-68-3, Mohit 10-0-48-1, Harbhajan 10-0-50-2, Axar 10-0-40-1, Mishra 10-1-55-1.
Toss: India.
Man-of-the-match: Kohli.
India won by 35 runs to level the series 2-2.
