India lose ODI match despite Virat Kohli's century, only second time in over six years

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], December 3 (ANI): India's four-wicket loss to South Africa in the second ODI at Raipur also marked the end of the continuity of a happy combination that had lasted since 2019. After six years and nine months, Virat Kohli ended up on the losing side despite scoring a century in an ODI clash.

During the Raipur clash, Virat enthralled the crowd with a 93-ball 102, with seven fours and two sixes, striking at over 109. Despite his explosive century marked by immense control and excellent pacing, Aiden Markram's 98-ball 110 and calculated half-centuries from Matthew Breetzke and Dewald Brevis outshone his efforts and took SA to the target of 359 runs, the joint-highest chase against India in ODIs.

Before this, it was as far back as March 2019 that India lost an ODI despite Virat scoring a century. In that match it was his brilliant 123 in 95 balls, with 16 fours and a six, left India 32 runs short of the 314-run target set by Australia on the back of a century from Usman Khawaja and a fiery 93 from Aaron Finch at the top.

From that match in March 2019 till the day before the Raipur ODI, Virat went on to score 11 more ODI tons in a winning cause in a matter of 55 innings, scoring 2,834 at an average of 67.47.

In ODIs, Virat is one of India's greatest match-winners of all time. 44 of his ODI centuries out of 53 have led to an India win. 24 of these match-winning centuries have come while chasing, making him the undisputed king of chasing, scoring 6,072 runs at an average of 89.29 while chasing down totals successfully. Only eight of Virat's ODI tons have come in a losing cause, and one in a no-result.

In 12 ODIs this year, Virat has scored 586 runs in 12 innings at an average of 58.60, with a strike rate of 92.72, including three centuries, three fifties and a best score of 135.

Coming to the Raipur ODI, India was put to bat first by the Proteas, who had the hosts down at 62/2 after dismissals of Rohit Sharma (14) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (22). Virat (102 in 93 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) and Ruturaj (105 in 83 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes) put on a 195-run stand for the third wicket, putting India in command. Later, KL Rahul (66* in 43 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) and Ravindra Jadeja (24* in 27 balls, with two fours) finished off in style with a quickfire 69-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Marco Jansen (2/63) was the top bowler for the Proteas.

Proteas started off the chase with a flurry of boundaries, but they lost Quinton de Kock early. After that, skipper Temba Bavuma (46 in 48 balls, with three fours and a six) and Markram had a 101-run stand. Markram struck his fourth ODI ton and first as an opener, scoring 110 in 98 balls, with 10 fours and four sixes. Another partnership of 92 runs between Matthew Breetzke (68 in 64 balls, with five fours) and Dewald Brevis (54 in 34 balls, with a four and five sixes) changed the game in favour of Proteas. In the end, despite Nandre Burger and Tony de Zorzi's injuries making things easier for India, Keshav Maharaj (10*) and Corbin Bosch (25*) took SA to a memorable win with four wickets and four balls in hand.

Arshdeep Singh (2/54) was the top bowler for India, while Harshit Rana's (1/70) figures changed for the worse after one poor over. Prasidh Krishna's poor show, conceding 82 in 8.2 overs, was a massive point of difference in SA's win.

An exciting decider awaits on Saturday. (ANI)

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