South Africa 99 all out after 27.1 overs against India

As reported by ESPN, India stormed to a fifth successive ODI series win with a crushing victory over South Africa in a match played on Tuesday inDelhi. Their spinners combined to bowl South Africa out for 99, their lowest ODI total against them – and fourth-lowest in the format – inside 28 overs. Spinners Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Kuldeep Yadav shared eight wickets between them, with Kuldeep completing his third four-for against South Africa.

As a result of the loss, South Africa end the series at 11th position in the Super League table, after having already cancelled their ODIs against Australia. They must finish in the top eight if they seek direct qualification for the 2023 World Cup.

The head coach of the South Africa national cricket team was surprised to see that the Indian bowling attack is more aggressive than the South African bowling attack in the ODI series. he said:

“Surprisingly, in ODIs, India’s bowling attack bowled with much more aggression than what we did. We talked about it and the way Enrique Nortje bowled tonight was a positive sign for me, especially in situations where it would be quite effective. I think we’ve learned some lessons and we’ve had a good conversation behind closed doors talking about things we can be better at.”

This is the fourth time in ODI history that South Africa have been bowled out for under 100, and the second time in 2022 after they were dismissed for 83 by England. The batting collapse apart, Tuesday added to a mounting list of concerns for the visitors ahead of the T20 World Cup: regular captain Temba Bavuma, stand-in skipper Keshav Maharaj and wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi all sat out the fixture with an illness.

While Maharaj is freshly infected, Bavuma and Shamsi had also missed the second ODI, with CSA saying they are “feeling better” but benched as a “precaution”. David Miller led the team for the first time in an ODI but was unable to lift them from 43 for 4. They lost their last six wickets for 33 runs in 50 balls, and found themselves with an improbable task in the field.

No team has defended than 125 in a 50-over match, while South Africa’s lowest successful defence remains 129. They had to attempt to better that without their pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada, who was rested, and Wayne Parnell, who played in the previous two matches but made way for the other allrounders Andile Phehlukwayo and Marco Jansen in this one.