South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI, Stats Review: Quinton de Kock's record-breaking ton taks Proteas to 3-0 triumph

This third ODI between India and South Africa was a dead rubber played without World Cup Super League points being at stakes. Despite the nature of this match, it produced an absolute thriller which the ODI cricket badly needed. India made as many as four changes to their team with Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and Deepak Chahar coming in.

Though Indian bowlers of late have an abysmal record in the first ten overs, they reduced South Africa to 34/2 after getting the wickets of Janneman Malan and Temba Bavuma. They also got Aiden Markram cheaply, but opener Quinton de Kock stood firmly at the other end continuing his brilliant form against India.

On the other end, Rassie van der Dussen, also slammed a brilliant fifty. De Kock and Rassie shared a 144-run stand and did the maximum damage before the Indian bowlers could plug things back, bowling them out for 287.

Though India lost their new skipper KL Rahul early in the chase, a 98 run stand between Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli put India in a comfortable position. But then, India lost wickets at regular intervals and they were223/7.

It looked like another comfortable win for South Africa. But then Deepak Chahar, who is playing for the first time in this tour, produced a knock of 54 (34) out of nowhere. India were again in a comfortable position requiring 10 runs to win off 18 balls. Chahar then played an unnecessary shot after bringing the situation in control. South Africa then took two quick wickets to win the game by four runs, completing a 3-0 whitewash.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from South Africa vs India, 2nd ODI:

 2 – This is the second time Rishabh Pant bagged a first-ball duck in ODIs.  Pant is only the second Indian wicketkeeper to register multiple first-ball ducks after MS Dhoni (5 times).

6 – This is the sixth ODI hundred by Quinton de Kock against India. De Kock now has the joint-highest ODI hundreds by a Proteas player against India, tied with his former teammate AB de Villiers.

17 – This is the 17th hundred by Quinton de Kock as a wicketkeeper in ODIs. He overtook Adam Gilchrist (16) to take the second spot. Only Kumar Sangakkara has more hundreds (23) as a wicketkeeper in this format.

16 – Quinton de Kock reached the milestone of 1000 runs in ODI cricket against India, in just his 16th innings. He is the joint fastest player to 1000 ODI runs against India, along with Steve Smith.

23 – After 23 innings, India finally managed to break the opening partnership of the opposition for a single digit score in ODIs. The last time it happened was in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.

2 – Only two Indians scored managed a fifty-plus score twice in ODIs at Cape Town (Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan). Both of them who reached their second fifty at Cape Town today.

191 – Fifty-plus scores by Virat Kohli in international cricket. He overtakes Mahela Jayawardene (190) and has the sixth most fifty-plus scores across all formats in international cricket. Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid are ahead of Kohli.

218 – Runs scored by Rassie van der Dussen before being finally dismissed in this series to a great catch by Shreyas Iyer.

31 – Deepak Chahar reached his fifty in 31 balls, which is the fastest ODI fifty by an Indian against South Africa in South Africa.

1 – KL Rahul becomes the first Indian to lose his first 3 ODIs as a captain.

Written By – Kausthub Gudipati