Virat Kohli, spinners help India win 4th ODI; level series 2-2

Virat Kohli scored his 23^rd ODI century at Chennai on Thursday

Virat Kohli’s 23^rd ODI century combined with an outstanding bowling effort by the spinners helped India equalise the 5-match ODI series 2-2 with a win over South Africa at Chennai on Thursday. Chasing the target of 300 set by the hosts, AB De Villiers single-handedly brought the Proteas close to the total with a knock of 112 but in the end it was not enough as the visitors fell short by 35 runs.

It was Indian skipper MS Dhoni who won the all-important toss at Chennai and he had no hesitation in batting first. With the surface expected to assist the spinners, the hosts went into the match unchanged from the side that lost at Rajkot while injuries forced South Africa to make two changes. Chris Morris and Aaron Phangiso were drafted in for JP Duminy, who has been ruled out of the final ODI as well, and the Man of the Match from the third ODI, Morne Morkel.

Rohit Sharma started off in fine touch with a few hits to the boundary but ended up gifting his wicket playing an uppish shot to give Morris an early wicket. His opening partner Shikhar Dhawan didn’t fare much better as his struggles with the bat continued after he glowed a short-pitched ball from Kagiso Rabada with De Kock pulling off a brilliant catch down the leg side.

Virat Kohli looked unfazed by the loss of early wickets though and batted aggressively right from the onset and found able support from first Ajinkya Rahane and later, Suresh Raina. The 26-year-old seems to have turned the tide after notching up his first half-century in 12 ODI matches at Rajkot and went one better on Thursday scoring his 23^rd century in the fifty-over format.

In the process, Kohli became only the fifth batsman to score ODI centuries against all the Test-playing nations. Kohli shared a 104-run stand for the 3^rd wicket with Rahane, who once again failed to convert his start into a big innings, and a 127-run stand with Suresh Raina for the 4^th wicket. Coming into the match amidst much criticism with scores of 3,0 & 0 in the opening three ODIs, Raina answered his critics at his IPL home ground and brought up his 35^th ODI half-century.

Having reached 230/3 in 40 overs, India were expected to score well beyond the 300-run mark but excellent death bowling from the visitors saw a flurry of wickets towards the end and with the Indian batsmen struggled to put the bad balls away, could only 69 runs in the last 10 overs thus setting up a target of 300 for the Proteas.

The South Africans got their reply off to a flying start with De Kock looking more like his old self after a confidence-boosting century at Rajkot. Amla was restored to the opening slot with Miller reverting to his usual slot in the middle over but that couldn’t help Amla arrest his run of poor scores falling to Mohit Sharma.

De Kock continued to strike boundaries at will at the other end racing to 43, but the introduction of spin changed the complexion of the match with Harbhajan Singh picking up the wicketkeeper-batsman in the 12^th over to leave the visitors at 67/2.

The veteran off-spinner was joined by Axar and the spin duo stifled the opposition for runs and got their just rewards as Du Plessis and Miller fell in quick succession. The former was highly disappointed after being given out caught behind but replays suggested that he had indeed got the faintest of edges.

De Villiers and Behardien put on a 56-run partnership for the fifth wicket, but both had their fair share of chances with the former especially lucky to remain at the crease after he was completely outfoxed by Amit Mishra and found himself way down the pitch. Dhoni failed to collect the ball though and Raina, who was fielding at the slips failed to hit the stumps with his throw.

Mishra deservedly picked up the wicket of Behardien prompting De Villiers to switch gears as he picked up six boundaries from his next 12 balls. Morris got into the act as well hitting a reverse sweep for a boundary, but his stay in the middle was brought to an end by Rahane’s brilliant direct hit.

With Phangiso offering support at the other end, De Villiers continued to torment the Indian bowling attack and brought up his 22^nd ODI century but in the end it was too little too late as Bhuvneshwar Kumar accounted for the dangerman in the 45^th over with South Africa 67 runs away from victory.

The tail wagged but eventually fell short by 35 runs thus setting up an intriguing decider at Mumbai on Sunday.