South Africa vs India 1st ODI - Who Said What

The first ODI of the series was played at Kingsmead in Durban, a venue where South Africa had never lost an ODI to India. That after the home team prevailed in the Test series 2-1 and it was all scripted in their favour. Skipper Faf du Plessis also won the toss and decided to bat first on a wicket that was expected to get slower as the game progressed.

Team India fielded both their wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal along with the two pacers, Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav. South Africa, on the other hand, brought Aiden Markram into the XI for AB de Villiers and relied on Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada, Andile Phehlukwayo and Imran Tahir to do the job with the ball.

While the rest of the batting failed skipper Faf du Plessis scored his 9th ODI hundred – 122 – to take the team to a competitive score – 269/8 at the end of 50 overs. It wasn’t expected to be easy for the Indians and certainly not as easy as Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane made it look. Their 189-run partnership almost took India over the line but it was up to MS Dhoni once again to hit the winning runs.

Kohli brought up his 33rd ODI hundred and the first in South Africa and the team marched to a 6-wicket win with more than 4 overs to spare. He was also awarded the Man of the Match for his effort and the Men in Blue took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Virat Kohli said:

Yeah, it was quite special. We wanted to take the confidence from Jo’Burg to here. We wanted one good partnership. Very very happy for Jinks as well. It is easier to break down the total when you have a number on the board. I like to understand the game.

I had never scored an ODI hundred in South Africa. Thus, the celebration. It was my knee and my groin took the impact. The outfield for me was quite dangerous. I am ok now. Bhuvi and Bumrah again, we bank on them. The two wrist spinners have been making the difference for us. Having two wrist spinners I mentioned in the press conference is a huge advantage. It augurs well for the team when you have two fearless youngsters. They set their own field as well. They will have to keep this going for the rest of the series.

Jinks has a good technique and he took the confidence from the last game and never had doubts in his mind. He batted positively and I could solidify the situation from the other end. Hats off to him, he was outstanding.

Faf du Plessis said:

Went upstairs to get my finger checked. One day cricket, the intensity is a lot higher. We did not bat well enough. We were at least 50-60 short. The conditions were a little slower in the first innings. India with a strong batting line-up batted really well. I tried everything. Field placements, different tactics but Virat and Rahane played really well.