Magnificent centuries by Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen led South Africa to an ultimately comfortable victory by 31 runs over India in the first ODI at Boland Park in Paarl on Wednesday.
The Proteas batted first and were indebted to Bavuma and Van der Dussen as they recovered from a hesitant start to compile an impressive 296 for four after Bavuma won the toss on a sizzling hot day in Paarl.
Despite the nature of their task, India were making smooth progress towards their target when Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli added 92 in 102 balls for the second wicket.
The two men, timing the ball beautifully, looked in no trouble and were well ahead of the South African run-rate when disaster struck with the total on 138 for one in the 26th over.
Keshav Maharaj, who had bowled tidily without troubling the batsmen, suddenly got one to spin sharply back out of the footholds.
Dhawan (79 in 84 balls including 10 fours), who attempted to cut, found his middle-stump knocked back. Whether it was a plan or not, as the body language of the elated Maharaj and Bavuma suggested afterwards, it was a key wicket and started yet another of India’s batting collapses that so bedevilled their progress in the test series.
Fourteen runs and three overs later, Tabraiz Shamsi snared the really big fish when Kohli (51 in 63 balls) attempted a rare sweep off the left-arm wrist spinner; he played too early and could only toe-end the ball gently up in the air for Bavuma to pouch the catch at short midwicket.
The nature of his dismissal was surprising in that Kohli rarely plays the sweep in any format of the game.
There was still Rishabh Pant, of course, fresh from his sublime unbeaten hundred in a losing test cause at Newlands, but, a run after Shreyas Iyer flapped at a bouncer from Lungi Ngidi – edging behind Quinton de Kock – the flamboyant left-hander fell to a brilliant piece of work by wicketkeeper De Kock who – standing up to Andile Phehlukwayo – whipped off the bails as Pant played at a legside delivery before briefly overbalancing.
The ultimate result was in no doubt after that although Bavuma would have been annoyed that the Proteas so palpably took their feet off the gas, enabling Shardul Thakur to crack a stress-free unbeaten 50 in 43 balls as India finished on 265 for eight.
OLD-FASHIONED STRATEGY
Earlier, Bavuma and Van der Dussen rescued the Proteas’ innings when they added 204 in 189 balls for the fourth wicket, a South African record for the wicket against India.
The partnership between the two centurions represented a successful example of an old-fashioned strategy of a team building cautiously and then gradually accelerating the scoring rate in the second half of the innings.
After 20 overs, South Africa would have been grateful to reach 230; by the time Van der Dussen, in particular, completed his unbeaten 129 in 96 balls (nine fours, four sixes), his team were a whisker short of 300.
It was the second ODI hundred for both men with Bavuma, who also enjoyed a successful test series, striking 110 in 143 balls (eight fours) while it was a career highest score for Van der Dussen.
When Van der Dussen came to the crease, South Africa were struggling on 68 for three in 17.4 overs on a typically slow and low Boland Park pitch.
Jasprit Bumrah had nicked off Janneman Malan for six while Ravi Ashwin had bowled a rusty De Kock for 27 with one that went on with the arm.
Aiden Markram, desperately short of runs, ran himself out after driving firmly to mid-off and then failing to beat Indian debutant Venkatash Iyer’s direct hit at the bowler’s end.
With spinners Ravi Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal settling to their work – with the latter in particular looking threatening – Bavuma and Van der Dussen faced a stiff challenge in unpromising conditions.
It was Van der Dussen who gave the partnership its initial impetus, particularly against Chahal, as he repeatedly swept and occasionally reverse-swept the legspinner.
Gradually the two batsmen increased the run-rate with an unusually aggressive Van der Dussen dragging Bavuma along with him.
Their partnership was not primarily about boundary hitting, rather keeping the scoreboard ticking with some superb running between the wickets, turning dot balls into ones, and ones into twos. In such hot conditions, that was a feat of fitness as well as skill.
The two men gradually wore down the Indians, so that fielding errors accumulated, resulting in some instances in a number of overthrows.
Bavuma eventually perished in the 49th over, holing out to KR Rahul at long-on off the bowling of Bumrah, by some distance India’s best bowler with figures of 2-48 in 10 overs.
Van der Dussen continued on his merry way, however, almost taking his team to the 300 mark, a total that would have seemed outlandish early in the innings.
The second and third matches of the series – both day games – take place in Paarl on Friday and Cape Town on Sunday. The series is not part of the World Cup Super League so there will be no points awarded to either team.
South African umpire Marais Erasmus received awards at the beginning and end of play to mark his 100th ODI.
SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock (wk), Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma (capt), David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi
INDIA: KL Rahul (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal