Morkel bowls SA to victory
Morne Morkel produced a masterful spell of fast bowling to vault SA to an 18-run win over India in the third ODI.
|||India - Morne Morkel produced a masterful spell of fast bowling to vault South Africa to an 18-run victory over India in the third One Day International against India in Rajkot, on Sunday.
India could only manage 252/6 in search of 271 set for the win. The Proteas take a 2-1 lead in the five match series.
The lanky SA paceman ended with 4/39 from his 10 overs, which included the big scalps of Shikhar Dhawan (13), Virat Kohli (77) and captain MS Dhoni (47). Coming on as first change, Morkel sent Dhawan for an early shower in the tenth over with India reduced to 41/1.
A period of restoration followed as Rohit Sharma (65) and Kohli set the Indian chase back on track with a 72 run second wicket stand. JP Duminy (1/46) chipped in with the crucial breakthrough as he had Sharma caught and bowled to leave India 113/2.
Dhoni and Kohli also managed a considerable partnership, managing 80 for the third wicket. But, that would be the last decent partnership of their innings as the Indian batting fell way short in their reply to the South African’s total. On this occasion a short ball from Morkel forced Dhoni into a rash shot, as he lobbed a catch to Dale Steyn at short third man.
Earlier, Quinton de Kock scored his seventh ODI century to lead South Africa to 270/7.
De Kock ended with a masterful 103 from 118 balls in sweltering conditions including 11 fours and a six in his knock which lasted for 40 overs. It was also De Kock’s fourth ODI century against India.
The Proteas decided to promote the struggling David Miller up the order to open the batting with De Kock and the move paid off for the tourists. Together with De Kock the pair of left-handers put on 72 for the first wicket before Miller fell victim to Harbhajan Singh for 33.
It was a 118 run stand between De Kock and Faf Du Plessis (60 from 63 balls) for the third wicket that laid the platform for the Proteas. The partnership, however, came to an abrupt end when Du Plessis attempted to scoop a full delivery outside off over the keeper for four, but only succeeded in giving short third man an easy catch.
It was something of a rare occasion as both AB de Villiers (4) and Hashim Amla (5) both fell cheaply, but the lower order were able to help the Proteas to a defendable total.
African News Agency