India survived a blitzkrieg from South Africa's lower middle order to eke out a 17-run win in the first ODI in Ranchi on Sunday (November 30). Marco Jansen (70 off 39) and Corbin Bosch (67 off 51) went berserk to give South Africa a solid chance but they kept losing wickets at wrong occasions to fall short. India rode on Virat Kohli (135 off 120) who stroked his 52nd ODI ton to take the hosts to a total of 349.
Under lights, South Africa's top-order were shaky against the new ball and lost their top-three inside the first five overs. However, once the swing disappeared, the track once again seemed very good to bat on. It was Matthew Breetzke (72 off 80) who initiated the visitors' fightback while Dewald Brevis (37 off 28) looked good while he was there, only to succumb to a debatable stroke.
Breetzke, though, hung in and when Jansen started with a bang, the former played second fiddle as the all-rounder took India's bowlers to the cleaners, like he had done in the second Test at Guwahati. It was clean ball-striking and 99 percent of his strokes were perfectly struck and timed.
Their 97-run stand had given South Africa a serious chance to go deep into the chase but Kuldeep Yadav removed both batters in the same over to turn the game on its head. Bosch, who came in after Jansen's dismissal, took the baton and showed his powerhitting skills as India continued to be put under pressure. However, the lack of wickets in the tank meant that home side always had a slight edge.
Nandre Burger gave Bosch good support but in the end, he had too much to do. The equation came down to 18 needed off six balls and although India had to bring an extra fielder into the ring for slow over rate, the task proved to be beyond Bosch who was the final man dismissed. Harshit Rana (3-65) did get some stick in the middle overs but his new-ball spell virtually shook South Africa.
Earlier in the day, Kohli was the backbone of India's score of 349 but they left at least 20-25 runs out there due to the middle order slowdown. Rohit Sharma (57 off 51) put on a 136-run stand with Kohli to give India the platform for a massive total. The former captain became the leading six hitter in ODI cricket during his innings but wasn't able to convert his fifty into a really big knock.
Kohli, though, didn't miss out and played what was arguably his most fluent ODI innings in years. The intent was there from ball one and he also uncharacteristically struck two sixes in the first ten overs itself. The 37-year-old ended his innings with seven sixes and he was seldom out of control in his innings.
Unfortunately for India, they imploded a wee bit after Rohit's dismissal and that left Kohli stranded in the 90s for a while but once he got to his 83rd international ton, he cut loose with aplomb. KL Rahul (60 off 56) and Ravindra Jadeja (32 off 20) did their bit at the end to give India strong total but with dew around, it wasn't a safe score. That is why Harshit's new-ball spell and Kuldeep's double strike proved monumental.
