#MatchInNumbers: India defeat South Africa, become number 1 ODI team
India defeated South Africa by 73 runs in the 5th ODI to clinch their first series victory in South Africa. India have now overthrown the Proteas from the number one ODI rank, to stake a claim on it. Rohit Sharma's ton propelled India to 274/7 and in reply, the hosts could only manage 201. Here are the records that were broken in this fixture.
Chahal & Kuldeep have been South Africa's nightmare
Indian wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have become the most successful spinners in a bilateral tour of South Africa. Kuldeep has bagged 16 wickets, whereas, Chahal has picked 14 wickets till now. The next best performance was by Keith Arthurton, when he picked 12 wickets during West Indies tour of SA in 1999. Shane Warne bagged 11 wickets in 1994.
Pandya continues to struggle with the bat
Hardik Pandya's poor form with the bat continued as he was dismissed on a duck. The all-rounder scored 93 in the first innings of the first Test on this tour of South Africa. Since then, he has scored just 52 runs in the 9 innings.
Lungi Ngidi's brilliant last spell put the brakes on India
Between 42nd and 45th over, India lost 3 wickets and managed to score just 10 runs. Lungi Ngidi dismissed the likes of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Shreyas Iyer in a span of 3 overs. South Africa's late comeback resulted in India scoring just 34 runs in the last 5 overs.
Kohli reaches 400 run mark in the series
Virat Kohli is only the second Indian to score 400 plus runs for India in bilateral series. The Indian captain is also the first Indian to score 400 plus runs in a bilateral series against South Africa. Rohit Sharma is the only other Indian to score 400 plus runs. He did it twice against Australia.
Never on the same page
Rohit Sharma has been involved in 27 runs outs. He has run himself out 12 times and run his partner out 15 times. Virat Kohli has been involved in 26 runs outs, where he has run himself out 12 times and his partner 14 times.
Kohli is the heart and soul of the Indian team
Virat Kohli is undoubtedly the most important player for India and that can be proved with these numbers. In the last 5 ODI series, the average second wicket partnership for India has been 100+ in 4 of the 5 series. 110 against Sri Lanka, 47 against Australia, 100 against New Zealand, 116 against Sri Lanka and 132+ against South Africa.
Rohit Sharma smashes 17th ODI ton
Rohit Sharma has finally hit form. The 3-time ODI double centurion smashed his 17th ODI century off 107 balls. This is his first ton on South African soil and his second century against South Africa. The right-handed batsman from Mumbai was given a lifeline by Shamsi when he was dropped at 96.
Good series for India's top order
Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli are the only two Indian cricketers to score 300 plus runs in a bilateral series against South Africa. Both the batsman achieved the feat in this series. While Kohli has 429 runs to his name, Dhawan has scored 305. Previous best was 285 by Sourav Ganguly in 1999-2000.
