India 282 for 3 (Shreyas 113*, Kishan 93) beat South Africa 278 for 7 (Markram 79, Hendricks 74, Siraj 3-38) by seven wickets
The ease with which India reached 280 – with 25 balls to spare – might make South Africa’s complete look far off the mark, however they solely appeared set for 300 after a sluggish begin. They misplaced each openers within the powerplay when Quinton de Kock reached for a large Siraj supply however didn’t transfer throughout to satisfy it and chopped the ball onto his stumps, and Janneman Malan grew to become Shahbaz’s first worldwide wicket: out lbw on evaluation.
Markram’s arrival had Kuldeep introduced on, within the hope that the wristspinner would take away South Africa’s No.4 for the fourth time in sixth matches. He beat Markram with drift and flight and reviewed an lbw shout off the eighth ball he bowled to him. Markram survived on umpire’s name. Kuldeep was taken off after that over, in what appeared to have been a tactical mis-step from the captain Shikhar Dhawan, and Markram doubled his rating off the subsequent 12 balls he confronted.
By that stage, Hendricks had settled and looked comfortable, especially against the spinners, against whom he used his wrists and feet well. Hendricks’ inclusion in the XI is particularly topical because he could not find a place in the team despite making four successive T20I half-centuries on South Africa’s tour to England in August. He went on to notch up a fifth half-century in six international innings, and fourth in ODIs. He has not played in this format in almost a year, when he was part of the team that took part in a washed-out match in November 2021. Fortunately for South Africa, he remains in excellent touch.
Hendricks’ fifty came up off 58 balls, after which he struck the first six of the innings when he hit Kuldeep over wide-long on, but Markram almost didn’t join him to the milestone. He was on 49 when he was given out caught behind to Avesh, when he missed a pull. Markram reviewed immediately and UltraEdge confirmed he had not made contact with the ball. He went on to reach fifty off 64 balls.
South Africa were 157 for 2 after 30 overs and should have had 300-plus in their sights but Hendricks pulled Siraj to deep mid-wicket on 71. In-form batter Heinrich Klaasen struck 30 off 26 balls but then mis-hit a Kuldeep googly straight up for Siraj to take, running in from long-on and Markram was out two balls later. That gave David Miller 12.4 overs to marshal the lower order, but he struggled to get going.
South Africa scored just 31 runs between the 40th and 45th over, with only one boundary, and were impatient to get going. Wayne Parnell tried to hit a Thakur slower ball over long-off but was too early through the stroke and sent to straight to Shreyas on the boundary. The only other time South Africa found the rope before the penultimate over was when Siraj shied at the non-striker’s stumps in his ninth over and missed. With no back-up, the ball went for four overthrows despite protests from the Indian fielders that the delivery should have been dead.
With eight balls remaining in the innings, Miller sent Thakur for back-to-back boundaries but he could not hold on to strike for most of the final over. Siraj bowled Keshav Maharaj, who battled to get the ball away throughout his stay at the crease, to finish with the second three-for of his 12-match ODI career.
South Africa’s defence started fairly well when, for the second match in succession, Parnell removed Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada got rid of Shubman Gill although the pair got India off to a decent start. Dhawan launched Bjorn Fortuin – tasked with opening the bowling alongside Parnell – over deep mid-wicket for six before Parnell took out his offstump. Gill hit five confident fours, including three through the covers, before Rabada took a low catch in his followthrough to dismiss him. India were 49 for 2 in the ninth over and 55 for 2 after the powerplay.
It was all Kishan and Shreyas from there as they targeted the left-arm spinners. Kishan stayed back in his crease to hit Maharaj over mid-wicket for two sixes in two overs while Shreyas enjoyed anything short of a length and showed off his cut shot. In perfect harmony, Kishan pierced the on-side and Shreyas the offside and controlled proceedings.
Their partnership reached fifty when they brought up the team 100, with a six from Kishan off Maharaj and it grew to a century when Kishan thwacked Fortuin over mid-off. But it wasn’t just the spinners who were put to the sword. Kishan pulled Rabada through deep square (and the South African spearhead had overstepped) and Shreyas hit Parnell for back to back fours off full deliveries which invited the drive. Nortje got the worst of it when Kishan took on his short ball for a pull through and then over mid-wicket, when he changed his length to full, Kishan hoicked over the same area of six more and in his next over, did the same.
Kishan was all set for his first hundred and was seven runs away when he holed out to deep mid-wicket, off Fortuin. India still needed 70 runs off 15.3 overs and the job was mostly done.
Shreyas made good on his alternative and introduced up 100 off 103 balls when he made room for himself off a Rabada quick ball and boshed it over further cowl. Three overs later, he hit the profitable runs, steering Nortje via third for the fifteenth 4 of his innings. India sealed the chase with 25 balls remaining and take the collection to a decider in Delhi on Tuesday.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent