South Africa vs India 2018: Best moments of the tour

Team India’s long and gruelling tour of South Africa finally came to a rather tame end after the man who was in the headlines throughout not playing the final game. But the contest between bat and ball over the last couple of months was impeccable though very few expected the ODI series to be one-sided. However, the humdinger in the three-match T20I rubber made amends for the earlier lows in the limited overs format.

When the Test series started India were tipped as the best to tour to the country ever but they lost the first couple of matches only to attract a lot of ire from the fans and the media. The team took everything on the face and won the last match famously only to turn around the things in One-Day Internationals. The wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav were at their best to bamboozle the Proteas batsmen and then there was Virat Kohli who was batting on another planet.

The emotions ebbed and flowed throughout the tour between both the teams and the cricket fans had some of the best moments to enjoy. Even the players enjoyed being part of the sporting moments during the course of the competitive tour. Here we bring you the some of the best moments during India’s stay in the rainbow nation:

1. Du Plessis kissing Rabada

The first Test match between India and South Africa was nicely poised as the visitors had bundled their opponents for 286 runs on the first day. However, their bowlers spit venom on the Indian batsmen and reduced them to 92/7 on the next day and were on course to take a huge lead. But Hardik Pandya, playing his first Test in the country, had other ideas. He counter-attacked cleverly which caught Faf du Plessis and his men off guard.

He smashed all the bowlers out of the park with his unorthodox strokes and stitched a 99-run partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar which took India close to 200. Just when everyone thought Pandya will score his maiden ton in the country, Kagiso Rabada scalped him with a bouncer on 93. It was a huge relief for the skipper as he came and kissed the bowler on his forehead while congratulating him on the wicket.

The image of the same went viral on social media as a lot of memes were also made by the fans. Even Du Plessis and Rabada enjoyed a lot as they were left laughing at the moment.