Live scorecard, India vs South Africa, 5th ODI, Port Elizabeth
India win their first-ever bilateral ODI series in South Africa
South Africa innings roundup: Chasing a tricky total of 275, South African openers got off to a solid start but the middle-order yet again led the hosts down as they succumbed to the spin duo of Kuldeep and Chahal. Hashim Alma (71) challenged India along with wicketkeeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen (39). But Hardik Pandya rose to the occasion with two crucial wickets and a terrific run-out. Kuldeep in his final over of the spell claimed three wickets of Rabada, Klaasen and Shamsi respectively. The final wicket of Morne Morkel ensured India’s unprecedented series victory against the Proteas.
Klaasen strikes BIG!
Wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen goes after Kuldeep in the 38th over. Picks up 16 runs off his over slamming 2 sixes and a boundary. SA: 187/6 after 38 overs, require another 88 runs from 11.5 overs with 4 wicckets remaining.
Kuldeep strikes with the googly!
Back to back wickets for team India! After Pandya dismissed Amla with a brilliant fielding effort, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav strikes in the successive over. Googly from the wrist spinner castles Phehlukwayo. South Africa now in deep trouble as they still require 107 runs from 14 overs but have only four wickets remaining
Amla scores his 35th half-century
Opener Hashim Amla reaches his 35th half-cantury off 72 balls. Alma in his patient knock has been lucky thrice. SA are 134/4 after 29 overs. Require another 141 runs from 21 overs with 6 wickets remaining.
Killer Miller is OUT
Chahal does it for India. Miller misjudges the length and misses the flighted delivery. After scoring a gritty 36, Miller takes a long walk back. SA 128 for 4 after 27 overs. Hosts require another 147 runs with 6 wickets and 23.0 overs remaining
Pandya strikes AGAIN!
Dangerous de Villiers departs for 6. Hardik Pandya gets AB again. Trying to slash away from the body, AB gets a feather through to Dhoni. SA in trouble at 65/3 after 13 overs.
Duminy departs!
Hardik Pandya strikes in his first over, gets it to move off the seam. Duminy is out for 1 after edging the ball to Rohit Sharma standing at wide first slip. SA 55-2 after 11 overs.
Markram Out
Bumrah draws first blood! Trying to chip the ball towards the leg side Markram gets a leading edge. The ball balloons in the air and lands in the safe hands of Virat Kohli who was standing at mid-off. SA 52-1 after 10 overs. Require another 223 runs with 9 wickets and 40.0 overs remaining
Dropped!
Amla survives. Shreyas Iyer drops a sitter in extra-cover region. Amla looking to go over the infield lofts a good length ball off Bumrah which goes straight into the hands of Iyer. But luck favours Amla as the ball goes through the hands of the fielder. SA 27-0 after 6 overs
Steady start for South Africa
Chasing 275, the hosts have begun cautiously. After end of five overs South Africa are 23 without loss. Both the openers are batting on 11.
South African chase begins
Openers Hashim Amla and Aiden Markram are out in the middle to start the proceedings for South Africa. The hosts require 275 with 10 wickets remaining.
India innings roundup: Batting collapse in the latter part of the inning restricted India to 274 for 7 after 50 overs against South Africa in the fifth ODI at Port Elizabeth. India were set for a big total, at one stage team was cruising at 236 for loss of three wickets. But in the final 10 overs, team lost 4 crucial wickets and managed mere 55 runs.
Lungi Ngidi starred for the Proteas with the ball. The pacer took four wickets in the match out of which 3 came in the death overs. Against the new batsman Ngidi was precise with his line and length which helped the hosts to restrict India to a decent total.
Earlier, India got off to a terrific start. Rohit Sharma slammed his 17th ODI century and scored 115 off 126 balls which included 11 fours and 4 mammoth sixes. Unfortunately he was also involved in two run-outs which involved skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.
India are still 3-1 ahead in the series and with a decent total on board team will look to seal the series at Port Elizabeth.
India end their innings on 274/7 with Rohit Sharma top scoring with 115. Proteas will need 275 runs to win and keep the series alive.
Ngidi strikes again, Dhoni OUT!
South African pacer Ngidi is on a roll as he claims his fouth wicket of the match. MS Dhoni is Out after scoring 13 off 17 balls. Captain Markram comes in running from mid-off and grabs a blinder to dismiss the explosive batsman. IND 265-7 after 48.2 overs.
Iyer OUT!
India in trouble as wickets continue to tumble. Ngidi strikes for the third time in two overs. After scoring a patient 30 Shreyas Iyer is Out. IND 238-6 after 44.2 overs
Double blow for India!
It’s two in two for South Africa. After Rohit, Pandya gets out on the first ball he faces. Rohit was out caught behind off Ngidi after scoring 115 off 126 balls. The ball bounced a bit more than Sharma expected and caught the outside edge. Hardik, too faces a similar delivery and returns back to the pavilion without troubling the scoreers. IND 236-5 after 43 overs
Hitman slams 17th ODI ton
After getting involved in two run-outs and a dropped catch on 96, hitman finally scores his first ton of the tour. This is Sharma’s 17th ton of his ODI career. A tap off Shamsi between fine-leg and square-leg and Sharma has his bat up in celebration. IND 203-3 after 36 overs.
Another run-out for India
After Virat, this time it’s Rahane who gets run-out on 8. After pushing the ball off Rabada towards mid-on, Rahane charges in for a quick single. Rohit at the non-striker end continues looking at the ball. After a late response, it is a long walk back for Rahane. IND 180-3 after 32 overs.
Virat returns to pavilion after scoring 36.
OUT! Mix-up between the two Indians and skipper Virat is back after scoring patient 36. Rohit tapped the ball off Morkel and Virat from the non-striker end came in running. Duminy at backward-point with his precise throw runs Virat out. India 155-2 after 26 overs.
Kohli survives !
A flighted delivery from chinaman Shamsi beats Kohli on the outside edge as he stretches forward to defend. From initial replays it seemed as if Virat was struggling but third umpire in a close has ruled not-out. IND 133-1 after 23 overs
Rohit reaches fifty
That's a fifty for Rohit. For the first time in the series, opener Rohit Sharma looks in control of the situation. A single off Shamsi towards deep extra-cover and Rohit completes his 35th ODI half-century. IND 119-1 after 21 overs
Hundred up for India
Boundary off Duminy at backward-point and India crosses 100-run in 17.1 overs. After series of poor scores on the tour, opening batsman Rohit Sharma finally finds form. Just at the stroke of drinks break, Virat and Rohit also complete their 50-run partnership off 53 balls. Rohit Sharma batting on 43 along with Virat on 20. India 103-1 after 17.1 overs
Incredible shot by the skipper
Continuing his good form in the series, Virat charges down the track and slaps ball through covers for four. Phehlukwayo in shock. IND 77-1 after 12 overs.
OUT! India loses their first wicket.
Dhawan out for 34 off 23 balls. The stylish left hander trying to go agressive on the Proteas bowlers gets caught at fine-leg while tying to pull a ball off Rabada. A needless shot as he had already collected three boundaries in the previous over. IND 48-1 after 7.2 overs.
Rohit Sharma joins the party!
Rohit charges down the track and whacks Rabada over his head towards long-on for a massive six. IND 30-0 after 6 overs
Dhawan survives
Chasing a wide ball off Rabada, Shikhar manages an edge which flies past over the second slip for four.
Sublime from Shikhar
Four! That's a cracker from Shikhar Dhawan. Contuning from his superb form in the previous encounter the dashing left-hander drives Rabada through extra covers. IND 5-0 after 2 overs.
Squad
India Playing XI: Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
South Africa Playing XI: Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi
Team News: After loss in the fourth one-dayer, the visitors have gone in the match with the unchanged squad. Rohit Sharma retains his spot even after series of poor performances.
The hosts have gone with one forced change in the squad. Tabraiz Shamsi comes in for Chris Morris who has a stiff back.
Toss: South Africa won the toss and opt to bowl first against India at Port Elizabeth.
Match Preview
Knocked back in the previous match, India will look to crush a South African revival before it becomes a threat to their pursuit of a maiden ODI series triumph when the two sides clash in the fifth one-dayer on Tuesday.
The Men in Blue still have a two-match cushion in the six-ODI series. They lead 3-1 after winning the first in Durban by six wickets, the second in Centurion by nine wickets and the third in Cape Town by 124 runs.
The Proteas bounced back by winning the rain-affected and lightning-struck Pink ODI in Johannesburg by five wickets.
India's wrist-spinners versus South Africa's batting line-up is still the key contest going ahead in this series. At Johannesburg, the dual rain intervention affected India's momentum with both the bat and ball.
More importantly, it reduced the target sufficiently that, despite AB de Villiers' relative early dismissal, the home batsmen didn't have much trouble getting past.
The T20-mode of that second innings, coupled with the best batting surface of the series, allowed David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen to attack the wrist spinners and take the game away.
Of course, the dropped catch and bowling Miller off a no-ball didn't help India's cause either. Yet, a rain-truncated innings is hardly enough evidence that South Africa have learnt how to contend with the wrist spin of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
Additionally, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah were not used to great effect as Virat Kohli chose to rely on the spinners, even when they were unable to respond to the Proteas' concentrated attack.
In this light, India's team selection will come into focus in Port Elizabeth. There are still question marks about the fitness of Kedar Jadhav, who suffered a hamstring injury in Cape Town and missed the previous game.
Albeit a part-timer, in his absence, India lose a reliable bowling alternative particularly if Hardik Pandya takes some stick and cannot complete his quota of overs.
Jadhav is adept at bowling slow spin and mixing it up well with Chahal and Yadav. India do not have many fall-back options in Jadhav's absence -- Rohit Sharma last bowled an ODI over at Perth in January 2016.
Shreyas Iyer is known to practice leg break and had bowled an over against Sri Lanka in his debut series.
Neither of them provides a reliable option like Jadhav does. Kohli himself is the other contender, but he bowls seam-up.
In summation, Jadhav's bowling is being missed more than his batting ability despite a troublesome middle-order and it indicates India's team balance is still not optimal.
Ajinkya Rahane has scored 11 and 8 since making a comeback 79 at no.4. Pandya's forgettable tour with the bat (since the first Test in early January) continues, with scores of 14 and 9 in his last two outings.
MS Dhoni's 42 not out (off 43 balls) was the only saving grace for this shaky middle-order as India struggled to finish well at Johannesburg.
The series' score-line has conveniently hid the fact that India have a top-heavy batting order, despite the poor form of Rohit Sharma, who has scored 40 runs in the first four ODIs and boasts a gradually sinking ODI average of 11.45 in 12 matches on South African soil
Kohli (393 runs) and Shikhar Dhawan (271 runs) have scored nearly thrice the number of runs put together by the remaining batsmen (239) and it ought to be a cause of major worry for the Indian think-tank.
This fact will not go overlooked and South Africa will be keen to exploit the Indian line-up's frailty and dismiss Kohli and Dhawan cheaply to gain an early advantage.
It remains to be seen what bowling combination the hosts will go in with. On a hard and bouncy Wanderers' wicket, they had dropped a full-time spinner altogether, relying solely on JP Duminy to do that job.
St. George's Park though has a history of aiding spinners and in the last two ODIs played here, the Proteas' spinners have been in prominence. In January 2017, Imran Tahir took 3- 26 against Sri Lanka.
In October 2016, Tabraiz Shamsi picked up 3-36 against Australia while South Africa also picked a second spinner in Aaron Phangiso who took 2-17.
South Africa have lost 11 out of 32 matches played at this ground. Six of those losses have come in the last decade as Port Elizabeth hosts at least one ODI every home summer.
India's record here is nothing to write about either. They have lost all 5 ODIs played here since 1992.
Four of those defeats came against South Africa, while the Men in Blue even managed to lose to Kenya here during the one-day triangular as part of their 2001-02 tour.
In fact, in five previous ODI outings in Port Elizabeth, India have never scored 200 runs here as 176 against South Africa in October 2001 is their highest total yet.
Once again on this trip, India will have to fight dubious past performances and erase a lop-sided record, only this time in a bid to carve out a fresh piece of history.