5 memorable ODI triumphs under Virat Kohli’s captaincy

3. India defeated South Africa 5-1 in the 6 match ODI series in 2018

The men in blue defeated the Proteas 5-1 in the long six-match ODI series in 2018 under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, he led the team from the front scoring 558 runs and became the men of the series.

In the curtain raiser of the ODI series, South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first and put a decent total of 269 on the scoreboard, but Kohli made it easy to chase as he scored a 112 and India won the game in 45.3 overs by 6 wickets.

In the second ODI, India won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first but they were clueless in front of Yuzvendra Chahal and got bowled out for only 118, as Chahal took a fifer and India chased down the target very comfortably in 20.3 overs with nine wickets remaining.

In the third ODI, South Africa opted to let India bat first and India scored a 303 in 50 overs with another hundred from Kohli, as he scored 160* then this time another spinner was brilliant. Kuldeep Yadav took 4 wickets and bowled out RSA for 179 and India won the game by 124 runs. To date, this is India’s biggest win in terms of runs against South Africa in their backyard.

In the next game, India opted to bat first and put a good total of 289, featuring 109 from Shikhar Dhawan in a rain-affected the game. South Africa got a revised target of 202 runs in 28 overs and this time the hosts batted beautifully and chased it down in 25.3 overs with 15 balls to spare.

In the fifth ODI, India batted first and scored 274 in 50 overs with courtesy of a 115 from Rohit Sharma. Hashim Amla played well scoring 71 but Kuldeep Yadav assured that South Africa were bowled out for 201 and India won by 73 runs and they ensured a series win by taking a lead of 4-1 with one game left in the series.

In the final ODI, South Africa batted first and were able to put only 204 on the board. Kohli scored his third century of the series, scoring an unbeaten 129 off 96 balls and led his side to chase down the target in 32.1 overs. Kohli scored the most runs in a bilateral ODI series by a player (558).