South Africa vs India 3rd One Day International, Rajkot

The third one day match was played between India and South Africa in the city of Rajkot. The stadium is relatively new and it is only the second one day international that it was hosting. The pitch was expected to be a good batting wicket. 

India lost the toss and AB Devilliers chose to bat first. The visitors went off to an excellent start, in the first 5 overs they amassed 30 runs and their score at the end of 10 overs was 59. In this match big hitter David Miller was sent to open the match, he did a fair job as an opener scoring 33 runs of 41 balls. However the pitch was assisting Harbhajan's spin bowling, so Miller tried to get after his bowling, he came down the track to one of bhajji's offspinner, he was beaten in flight, the ball took the outer edge of his bat and it went flying to the short third man where Rahane took a brilliant diving catch to dismiss him. 

After this Amla came to bat the Indian bowlers did well to contain him he scored only 5 of 15 balls and then ended up getting stumped smartly by Dhoni off the bowling of Amit Mishra. After that Faf du Plessis came into bat , de Cock and du Plessis formed an excellent partnership of 117 runs, in that partnership du Plessis did get caught but on checking with the third umpire it turned out to be a no ball. 

At this point South Africa lost two more wickets in the 40th over and over number 40.1, centurion Clint De Cock was run out and that gagged the scoring rate, in the 49th and the 50th over there were one six each hit by Steyn and Behardin because of which South Africa were able to reach a total of 270. At that point Dhoni would have been more than satisfied with the job done by his bowlers. 

When India batted they managed to keep wicket in hands and were off to a steady start. Dhawan was not in the best of forms and he struggled in his stay at the crease scoring 13 of 29 balls. When he got out the score was 41, Kohli came at number 3, he played an innings in which his rate of scoring was rather slow. India did manage to reach a total of 113 runs in 23overs, at this point India lost the wicket of Rohit Sharma to Dumini's bowling and this turned out to be the turning point of the match. 

Dhoni came in to bat, however at this point India's scoring rate really slowed down. Dhoni and Virat are recognised as two of the best one day batters who score runs briskly but their partnership was very slow which made the job of the following batsmen very very difficult. The partnership was of just a mere 80 runs in 113 balls. After the fall of Dhoni's wicket, Raina came in tried to go after the bowling from the second ball, but ended up giving an easy catch to the long off fielder. Very soon in an attempt to speed up the scoring Virat and Rahane got out in consecutive balls. 

Axar and Harbhajan tried their best, scored briskly. However their scoring rate was not fast enough to to overcome the South African total. Although Axar hit the last ball for a six. India ended up losing the match by 18 runs. 

Such unprofessional batting was not expected of experience players of the calibre of Dhoni and Kohli it is period between 30 th and 40 th over where India scored the runs slowly that India lost the match. Had a few more risks been taken then, India would have managed to surpass South African total. Although India lost 6 wickets, India still had players like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Amit Mishra who are capable of batting. 

As an Indian cricket fan it felt very bad to see the team lose the way it did. 

INDIA vs SOUTH AFRICA 1st T20(2nd October)

The T20 match played today between India and South Africa was really exciting. The match was evenly contested one, however South Africa won the match as the rub of the green went their way. 

Today's match was played in evening in the city of Dharmasala. The ground had heavy dew right from the beginning, which made life of the bowlers very difficult. They found gripping the ball very difficult and the Indian batsmen took full advantage, specially Rohit Sharma who is in the form of his life. 

Rohit scored a scintillating 100 of just 62 balls and was aptly supported by Virat Kohli who made a good 43 of 27 balls, but after Rohit's dismissal , South Africa did come back into the match. India were able to amass only 41 runs of the last 5 overs. Between the 10 and 15th overs India added 77 runs to its total thanks to explosive batting of Rohit Sharma. Dhoni hit the last ball of the Indian innings for a six and India ended the innings with a respectable total of 199 runs. 

In reply South Africa were off to a flyer, In the first six overs they were able to amass 67 runs, but then after the run out of Hashim Amla, Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a beauty to get the wicket of A.B. Devilliers. The debutant Srinath Arvind got the wicket of Faf Du Plessis the very next over and India were right on top. 

After that Behardin and Duminy formed a steady partnership, a very close LBW of Duminy was not given by the Umpire of the bowling of Axar Patel. After that Duminy hit Axar for 3 sixes in one over, that changed the course of the match now match was moving in the favour of South Africa.

However the in the first ball of the next over bowled by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar Duminy was clearly out clum lbw. But the decision was given in the favour of the batsman, this was the turning point of the match, after that Duminy simply demolished Indian bowling and managed to get the required two hundred runs for his team with two balls to spare. 

So with some lucky assistance from umpire Vineet Kulkarni, South Africa were able to win the match and go one up in the series. The match was really exciting and a closely fought contest.