De Kock was named Man of the Match for his superb innings of 109
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa handed India their second-largest defeat in ODI history when they won the fifth and final ODI by an unbelievable margin of 214 runs.
With the series tied at 2-2 heading into the fifth ODI in Mumbai, South Africa were going to need something special to clinch the series and they delivered in style as opener Quinton de Kock, batsman Faf du Plessis and captain AB de Villiers all scored centuries.
Even though India did not come close to their target, batsman Ajinkya Rahane and opener Shikhar Dhawan both deserve credit for their valiant knocks of 87 and 60 respectively.
De Villiers would have been thrilled with his decision to bat first even though opener Hashim Amla, who became the fastest batsman to score 6,000 ODI runs, was caught behind off the bowling of Mohit Sharma for 23 as de Kock and du Plessis amassed a 154-run partnership, during which de Kock brought up his eighth ODI century and du Plessis his half-century.
The partnership was eventually ended when de Kock was caught by Virat Kholi at long-off off the bowling of Suresh Raina.
De Kock, who scored his fifth ODI century against India, made a magnificent 109 off 87 balls, which included 17 boundaries and a six.
Du Plessis and de Villiers added to India’s woes as they put together an unbeaten 164-run partnership, during which du Plessis registered his fifth ODI century, before he retired hurt due to cramps on a career-best 133 not out, which came off 115 deliveries and included nine boundaries and six sixes.
Du Plessis leaps in delight after bringing up his fifth ODI century
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Despite du Plessis having returned to the pavilion, de Villiers continued his onslaught and demolished India’s bowling attack until he was finally caught behind off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 47th over.
De Villiers’ sensational innings of 119 came off just 61 balls and included three boundaries and 11 sixes.
De Villiers celebrates after scoring his 23rd ODI century
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Thanks to de Kock, du Plessis and de Villiers, South Africa finished on 438/4 off their 50 overs, which equals the third-highest total in ODI history, the highest score at the Wankhede Stadium and the highest total against India in an ODI.
Kumar, Sharma, Raina and Harbhajan Singh picked up one wicket apiece.
Chasing a mammoth total of 439 to win, India struggled right from the get-go as Dhawan and Rahane were the only two batsmen to make major contributions.
Dhawan got things started with a knock of 60 off 59 balls, which included eight boundaries, before Rahane took the fight to the Proteas later on with his innings of 87 off 58 deliveries, which included nine boundaries and three sixes.
With skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni being the next highest scorer with 27, it was no surprise when India fell well short of their target as they were dismissed for 224.
Kagiso Rabada was the most successful bowler with four wickets, while Dale Steyn snapped up three, Imran Tahir took two and Kyle Abbott claimed one.
Dhoni was disgusted with his side’s performance, and said: “Once they had good partnership on top and once they looked to accelerate, I thought it was impossible to stop them. Even if we had done exceedingly well, over 350 was on the cards. All three innings were very good, you want to have a good start so Quinton’s innings was very good. Faf came in at No. 3 and took over and AB as well. They got away in the first 25 overs and then it was difficult to stop.
“They only got one wicket in their favour. Specially this wicket, it was very true for the seamers. And we all know in Wankhede, there was a lot of runs. It would be unfair to say the spinners bowled badly. I think there were occasions where we should have done better. We were up and down, but still we were good. We put runs on the board and bowling also, we bowled well. This one game, it was completely taken away from us.”
De Villiers. who was named Man of the Series, lauded his team-mates for their outstanding performances, and said: “Obviously a very enjoyable performance today. We assessed the conditions nicely and the opening batters set it up for us to enjoy the innings. I thought Faf took control of the innings very nicely. KG [Rabada] is an amazing bowler, very young still, lots to learn and the potential in him is high.”
De Kock was named Man of the Match, and said: “Yeah, I dunno what to say actually. I guess they just make good wickets here. Just had a good series. Dunno what happened. Just happy about it. Growing up I’ve always tried to get better at keeping. Never been the best keeper around, so just worked hard at it. [Words to Faf and AB, the other two centurions] Recover well, and lets enjoy it later.”