In the fast lane

JOHANNESBURG, December 17

India’s seamers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan helped skittle South Africa out for 116 before Sai Sudharsan scored an unbeaten 55 on debut as India romped to an eight-wicket victory in the first ODI at The Wanderers here today.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat but the decision proved disastrous as they were bowled out for their lowest total on home soil in the 50-over format, narrowly underperforming the previous worst mark of 118 — also against India — in Pretoria in 2018.

Arshdeep picked up five wickets for 37 runs in his 10 overs and Khan took 4/27 in eight as they bowled a wicket-to-wicket line that had seven of the South African batters either bowled or dismissed leg before wicket.

All-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo offered some resistance for the hosts with 33 from 49 balls before he became Arshdeep’s fifth and final victim.

“The plan was to keep it simple,” Arshdeep said after his first ODI in more than a year. “I hadn’t opened my account in ODIs having played three games before this, so to get a five-for is really special. The wicket was helping, so we tried to maintain the basics and use the right lengths,” he added.

“Before the game we thought there wouldn’t be much movement, so we were surprised, but there was a nice breeze and some purchase off the wicket, so the plan was to hit the wickets and look for lbws,” he added.

Khan removed the middle and lower order for his career-best bowling figures in ODIs.

India were positive in their chase and reached their target in 16.4 overs with exactly 200 balls to spare. Debutant left-handed opener Sudharsan scored an elegant 55 not out in 43 balls, including nine fours. He was supported by Shreyas Iyer, who was caught with victory in sight having scored 52 from 45 balls.

The second game in the three-match series will be played in Gqeberha on Tuesday. Both teams are missing several of their regular players, who are either injured or rested for the two-match Test series that follows.

‘Surprised’ by wicket

India were surprised how helpful the Wanderers pitch was for their seamers, as captain KL Rahul said he thought it was his spinners who would win the day.

The tourists won the final T20I on the same wicket on Thursday, and Rahul said he believed it would be a game for his spinners.

“It was completely different to what we expected,” Rahul said at the post-match presentation. “We had planned to bring the spinners into the game early after what we saw in the T20 match. But there was a lot of help in the wicket and the boys did really well to put the ball into the right areas,” he added. “It is my first ODI win here (South Africa) as a captain. When I was here last time (January 2022) we lost all three, so it is good to get that victory under your belt,” he added.

South Africa never got going in the game with bat or ball and have much to think about ahead of the second match. “Credit to their bowling attack with the lateral movement,” home captain Aiden Markram said. “We weren’t able to settle and build partnerships. It was a problem right from the start and we couldn’t pull things back. We expected it to go around (seam) a little bit. Generally in the day games it does do something for five to seven overs. But today it went on for longer and we couldn’t get in,” he added. — Reuters

Brief scores: South Africa: 116 all out in 27.3 overs (Phehlukwayo 33; Arshdeep 5/37, Khan 4/27); India: 117/2 in 16.4 overs (Sudharsan 55*, Iyer 52)

5/37 Arshdeep Singh picked up his first 5-wicket haul in ODIs, having gone wicketless in his first three games

116 South Africa were bowled out for their lowest total on home soil in the ODI format. Their previous worst was 118 — also against India — in Pretoria in 2018

#Arshdeep Singh #Cricket