Port Elizabeth, Feb. 14 (TNS): After over 25 years of touring South Africa, an Indian cricket team has managed to beat South Africa in an ODI series.
It is no surprise that the team to do so is currently ranked No 1 in ODIs, or that its captain is the talismanic Virat Kohli who has batted on a different level in the ongoing six-match series, which India wrapped up on Tuesday against a depleted and spin-weary home team.
After victories in Durban (by six wickets), Centurion (by nine wickets) and Cape Town (by 124 runs), India were beaten on Saturday in a rain-hit fourth ODI, but stormed back to claim the series with a 73-run victory over South Africa at Port Elizabeth.
Kohli thus became the first Indian captain to win an ODI series in South Africa. His contributions have been exemplary – 429 runs in five innings, with two centuries and a half-century. Leading the bowling and totally flummoxing South Africa’s batsmen in four of five matches have been the wrist-spinning pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal with 16 and 14 wickets respectively.
India’s long-awaited ODI series triumph on South African soil came after six tours, dating back to 1992. That first series in South Africa was won by the hosts 5-2. Successive tours in 1996-97 (0-4), 2000-01 (a triangular series also featuring Kenya, where India were beaten in the final), 2006-07 (0-4) and 2013-14 (0-2) all ended in disappointment. In 2003, a team led by Sourav Ganguly had marched into the final of the ICC World Cup, where it was hammered by an all-conquering Australian outfit under Ricky Ponting.
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During the 2009 Champions Trophy, MS Dhoni’s team was eliminated before the knock-out stage.
