We had a great opportunity to clinch the series and the fans will be happy in Mumbai after 2-2: AB de Villiers

India beat South Africa by 35 runs in a must win game and levelled the series 2-2 at the Chepauk. Virat Kohli’s magnificent 138 off 140 took India to a huge score of 299/8. Suresh Raina finally found some form and scored 53 off 52. It was a difficult pitch to bat on and the ball turned. For the visitors it was their captain AB de Villiers who played a special knock of 112 off 107 and kept his team in the hunt single-handedly. Only Quinton de Kock made a fluent 43 off 35 but as soon as Harbhajan got him, the game turned in India’s favor and the 3 spinners put a stranglehold on the opposition.

At the post-match presentation ceremony the South African skipper said that it was a pretty tough wicket to play on and that Virat assessed the conditions very well.

AB de Villiers said: “We had a great opportunity to clinch the series and the fans will be happy in Mumbai after 2-2. No, the toss didn’t decide the fate, a lot of people tried to get that out of me but that’s not true. It was a hard-fought game and I loved the way the boys fought till the end. It was a pretty tough wicket to play on and Virat assessed the conditions very well early on. The ball was turning quite a bit and I got a few away at the end, I worked hard and hopefully we’ll take some positives to Mumbai.”

The winning captain MS Dhoni complemented his batsmen for getting them a good score, and the bowlers for containing the dangerous South African batsmen.

MS Dhoni said: “As a total team we did well, bowled well and batted well. They (batsmen) need to give themselves a bit more time and that was the reason to promote Raina and after he gets going he can play the big shots. Everyone has scored runs in the series now so that’s good going into the last match. Virat batted exceedingly well, especially the runs he got after the 35-over mark. I think it is (short ball is a weapon in the death overs), especially the grounds are bigger and the ball gets scuffed up. It gets difficult to clear the ball from an awkward height to go for the big shots and the bowlers are the ones evolve better than the batsmen, with the fifth fielder they think it’s heaven for them now.”

The man of the match Kohli, who played a classy knock battling through cramps in the heat, felt the conditions were tough with not much breeze throughout the day.

Kohli said: “The cramps are fine now and the physio told me not to take a chance because I might tear a muscle or two if I sprint or something and the fifth match is still left. It was pretty difficult because there wasn’t much breeze during the day when it was hot. If AB starts cramping then you know how hard it is because he is one of the fittest people around. They were bowling in good areas and was tough to get the boundaries so we had to get the single and twos. It always feels good when you get a century and the team wins and while chasing I like it because you get a chance to finish the game. Any century in a winning cause is always special. I told him (de Villiers) in the dressing room my heart was in my mouth when he was batting, he plays unbelievable shots. He’s a very modest man too, never praises himself so I’ll do that for him. The credit goes to him, he fought it out.”

(Quotes source espncricinfo commentary)

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