Malan, de Kock fifties help South Africa clinch ODI series win against India
Rassie van der Dussen (C) shakes hands with India's players after South Africa's victory at Boland Park in Paarl on Friday. AFP
Half-centuries by openers Janneman Malan (91 off 108) and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock (78 off 66) helped South Africa defeat India by seven wickets in the second One-Day International (ODI) at Boland Park on Friday.
The win also means that South Africa go 2-0 up and clinch the ODI series with the final match at Cape Town on Sunday a dead rubber.
After Rishabh Pant produced a career-best rear-guard act of 85 off 71 balls and KL Rahul contributed 55 and Shardul Thakur an unbeaten 40 to take India to 287/6, South Africa chased down the total with 11 balls to spare.
Chasing 288 on a scorching day in Paarl, South Africa were off to a scintillating start, collecting 66 runs in power-play. Out of those 66 runs, Quinton De Kock made 46 off just 32 balls. The left-hander was brutal on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, taking him for two boundaries and a six. De Kock then smashed Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin for boundaries followed by surviving a stumping chance off wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
India slumped from a promising start to its tour and a big victory in the first Test to lose that series 2-1, and now has also gone down in the ODIs.
An opening partnership of 132 between Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock set up South Africa's victory on Friday on a scorching hot day in the wine-producing city of Paarl near Cape Town, where temperatures went past 40˚C.
De Kock made 78 and Malan went on to score 91 before he was denied a century by India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
India also got South Africa captain Temba Bavuma for 35 but Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram saw the Proteas home, even if Markram had to scramble and dive for the crease for the match and series-winning single.
Earlier, after winning the toss, India blazed to 57/0 in the first ten overs. Shikhar Dhawan was strong in flicking and driving off pacers Sisanda Magala and Lungi Ngidi. KL Rahul pounced on a short ball from Magala through point and after Janneman Malan dropped his catch at gully, got another boundary off Ngidi through a misfield at cover point.
The left-handed Pant made batting look easy on a slow pitch, striking the ball to all parts of the ground and on several occasions taking one hand off his bat as he hit the ball. Pant hit ten fours and two sixes in a 71-ball innings.
Rahul made 55 off 79 balls and shared a third-wicket partnership of 115 with Pant. But Rahul was dropped twice and the stand should have been broken after the pair had added only six runs when an easy run-out opportunity was botched with both batsmen at the same end of the pitch.
Shardul Thakur (40 not out) and Ravichandran Ashwin (25 not out) scored freely in an unbeaten seventh-wicket stand of 48 in the last six overs as the bowlers wilted in heat which reached 40C towards the end of the innings.
