Rohit Sharma says India will show South Africa no mercy in final ODI

Sport360 staff 18:43 14/02/2018
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  • India opener Rohit Sharma declared India will target a 5-1 series win after clinching the ODI leg of their South Africa tour with a 73-run win in the fifth match in Port Elizabeth.

    Rohit ended a personal South African hoodoo and set up a series win at St George’s Park on Tuesday. His 115 was his first major innings in three tours of South Africa and helped India take a winning 4-1 lead in the six-match encounter, their first success in seven bilateral series in South Africa.

    “Every game that we play is important, irrespective of whether we have won the series or not,” Rohit said after the win.

    “Every game that you play for your country is important. We will approach that game in the same manner that we approached the last five games. It is important to keep doing the right things because it doesn’t happen very often in South Africa that you are 4-1 up and we will definitely try to make it 5-1 at Centurion.”

    South Africa’s chances of overhauling India’s 274 for seven plummeted when they lost their first three wickets inside the first 13 overs. Hardik Pandya struck crucial blows by dismissing JP Duminy and AB de Villiers.

  • Kagiso Rabada gets a fine and demerit point for Shikhar Dhawan send-off

  • Hashim Amla played a measured innings of 71 and shared partnerships of 62 with David Miller and 39 with Heinrich Klaasen. He was run out by a direct hit from Pandya, effectively ending the home team’s hopes.

    Indian wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were effective on a slow pitch, taking four and two wickets respectively.

    Rohit’s 17th ODI century ended a run of low scores in South Africa. In 19 previous innings across both Tests and ODIs, his highest score was 47 and he had scored only 249 runs at an average of 13.11.

    The Mumbai batsman said he had ensured that he stayed in a good frame of mind despite not making big scores. “I have been enjoying South Africa. It’s a good place to play cricket. I knew I didn’t have to change a lot and the runs would come,” he said.

    With the series won, using only 12 of India’s 17-man squad, captain Virat Kohli said: “We want to win 5-1 but there might be a scenario to give a few (other) guys a chance.”

    Although he was the mainstay of the innings, Rohit was at least partially complicit in two run-outs, both of which happened after he sent his batting partner back.

    The first run-out accounted for Kohli, who made 36 – his lowest score of the series – in a second wicket stand of 105. Kohli called Sharma through for a risky single, then could not beat JP Duminy’s direct hit at the bowler’s end.

    Ajinkya Rahane was the second run-out victim, playing a ball to mid-on and almost reaching the other end of the pitch before realising Sharma had refused the run.

    Sharma hit 11 fours and four sixes in his 126-ball innings but should have been caught on 96 when Tabraiz Shamsi dropped a straightforward chance at third man off Kagiso Rabada.

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