5 Talking points from India South Africa 3rd ODI: Kohli's return to form, Dhoni's lightning hands, and the pitch that decided the match

Morne Morkel’s 4-wicket haul helped South Africa defeat India by 18 runs in the 3rd ODI at Rajkot on Sunday thus giving the visitors a 2-1 lead in the 5-match series.A late fightback by the Indian bowlers nullified the foundation laid by Quinton de Kock’s century, but chasing the target of 271 set by the Proteas, India fell short despite fighting half-centuries by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.Here are the five most game-changing moments and factors, which decided the winner and set opinion mills working.

#1 Indian spinners frustrate South Africa

Harbhajan Singh exults after taking David Miller’s wicket, giving India the breakthrough

The Rajkot pitch had been touted to be a batting paradise before the match, a pitch that could serve as the stage for the slugfest of runs between India and South Africa that fans have been waiting for. From the way the South Africans started their innings, it looked as if things would go according to script too.

However, Harbhajan Singh (1/41) and Amit Mishra (1/38) had other ideas. They kept their lines tight, broke the South African momentum by getting David Miller and Hashim Amla back into the hut. Their 20 overs yielded a combined total of 79 runs, a vital contribution in what was supposed to be a match of 300+ totals.

Mishra’s inclusion in the team in place of Umesh Yadav bore fruits. Amla, for the second time in the series, could not read Mishra’s flight, and was gone cheaply.

#2 Dhoni\'s lightning hands

MS Dhoni showed exemplary glovework in the first innings

MS Dhoni had come up with a batting masterclass in the 2nd ODI to inspire India to victory, and his glovework in the 3rd ODI was something that briefly set the social media alight. The 34-year-old was lightning quick behind the stumps to send back Hashim Amla early, and was also responsible for bringing the dangerous Quinton de Kock innings to an end.

With the Amla stumping, his 137th , Dhoni is 2 victims short of ranking alongside Kumar Sangakkara as the wicketkeeper with the most stumping victims at international level.

#3 Kohli\'s commanding innings

Virat Kohli ened his ODI run drought

Virat Kohli was back to bat at No.3, and after a very long time, he was seen playing a responsible innings with the intent of scoring big. He did succeed in scoring 77 runs in the chase, but got overly bogged down towards the end, and gave in to pressure of the constantly rising required run rate.

It was his 34^th ODI fifty, and his first since the World Cup. Indian fans will be happy that he has broken his run drought in ODIs, but the fact remains that the experiment of having Kohli at the top order and Ajinkya Rahane at No.5 or 6 is one that can never succeed.

For the longest time, it looked like Kohli was cruising, with Dhoni by his side, to thwart the South African bowlers. He was running hard between the wickets, was hitting the ball cleanly, and looked set for a matchwinning knock.

But such was the nature of the Rajkot pitch, the climax of the run chase never came.

#4 Nature of pitch sees lower order collapses

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli looked all set to take India home, but the nature of the pitch posed a challenge that they had not foreseen

The Rajkot pitch was such a pitch where the new ball came on to the bat and was easy to dispatch to the fence, but slowed down considerably as the innings wore on, and the old ball got increasingly tougher to get runs off. Both batting innings got off to a confident start, but were stifled in the later overs.

The South Africa innings was looking poised for a final push at 205/2 in the 39^th over, but lost wickets and could not add many more to the total in the last 10. What seemed like a choke then, only came back to haunt the last part of the Indian innings.

The Dhoni-Kohli partnership got the runs coming, but could only look on helplessly as the asking rate jumped to 6, and then continued to creep up – eventually calling for rash shots. In their 112-ball partnership, there were 59 dots.

The extra fifth fielder allowed outside the inner circle for the last 10 overs made a lot of difference too.

#5 Miserly Morkel

Morne Morkel was given the Man of the Match award for his bowling heroics

Morne Morkel gave the Indian batsmen a lot of pain in all his bowling spells – he registered the best bowling figures in the match (4/39), and was awarded the Man of the Match award for the feat.

In his first spell, he made Shikhar Dhawan look very uncomfortable, and got the early breakthrough.

With 8 overs to go and 78 runs to get, India were in with a chance to win the match with a final push, but it was Morkel who put an end to all such hopes. With his deadly death over bowling, he accounted for Dhoni, Kohli and Rahane, breaking the Indian batting’s backbone in one single spell.

It is not often that the bowling hero is given the Man of the Match award over a centurion.

The Dhawan-Dhoni combo ends de Kock's super knock. 3rd @Paytm ODI #INDvsSA https://t.co/SGFsXX2NPI

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 18, 2015