SA vs IND 6th ODI: Kohli's 35th ton powers India to 5-1 series win

Centurion: India registered yet another emphatic 8-wicket victory over South Africa in the sixth and last ODI of the series to win it 5-1 at the SuperSport Park here on Friday.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli once again played an instrumental role in chasing down a small target of 205 runs. He remained unbeaten at 129 runs off only 96 balls and smashed 19 flourishing fours and 2 beautiful sixes.

After the early departure of Rohit Sharma (15 off 13, 3 fours), who scored a century in the previous match, Kohli partnered the crease in a 61-run partnership with opener Shikhar Dhawan (18 off 34, 2 fours).

Kohli had showed his intentions very early in the inning when he started taking on all the bowlers of South Africa. He, however, ensured he stays on ground on most of the occasion to maintain his consistency.

Also Read: SA vs IND 6th ODI: Virat Kohli notches 35th ODI hundred

Ajinkya Rahane ensured that India do not lose any more wickets en route to a memorable and dominating series victory over the hosts. He also remained not out at 34 runs off 50 balls with 3 boundaries.

Lungi Ngidi was the only wicket-taker for South African side as he bagged both the Indian wickets. He also bowled a maiden but eventually went for 54 runs in his 8 overs as Virat Kohli was on a roll today.

Player of the Match: Virat Kohli

Player of the Series: Virat Kohli

Kohli usually believes in rotating the strike and keeping the scoreboard ticking, but today, he scored 88 runs with boundaries (19 fours, 2 sixes).

Earlier, India won the toss and invited South Africa to bat first. The hosts, however, continued their bad form with the bat as Indian bowlers bundled them up for mere 204 runs in 46.5 overs.

Shardul Thakur, who is playing in only his second ODI, dismantled the Proteas top order bagging four wickets for 52 runs in 8.5 overs. He had sent back both the openers when there were only 43 runs on the scoreboard.

Stand-in skipper Aiden Markram scored 24 runs off 30 balls with 3 fours and a six, while his partner Hashim Amla could only manage 10 runs off 19 balls with 2 boundaries.

AB de Villiers, who was looking in confidence, failed to judge a quicker one by Yuzvendra Chahal and was cleaned up at the individual score of 30 runs off 34 balls. He smashed 4 fours in his inning.

Khaya Zondo was the highest scorer for South Africa as he scored 54 runs off 74 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. He was also sent back by Chahal. Heinrich Klaasen, who has shown good intent in the previous matches, also failed on this occasion. He got out at 22 runs off 40 balls with 3 fours.

Read this news in Hindi:

विराट सेना ने दक्षिण अफ्रीका में की Surgical Strike, रच दिया इतिहास

Farhar Behardein also could not click getting out on 1 run off 5 balls. Chris Morris could only add 4 runs off 8 balls.

Andile Phehlukwayo and Morne Morkel played crucial innings and stitched together a 36-run partnership to get South Africa over the 200-run mark. Phehlukwayo scored 34 runs off 42 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes, while Morkel added 20 runs off 19 balls with 2 sixes.

Imran Tahir scored 2 runs off 8 balls while Lungi Ngidi remained unbeaten at 0.

Jasprit Bumrah and Chahal picked up two wickets each while Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav managed one scalp each.