SA vs Ind 6th ODI: Virat Kohli stars as India beat South Africa by 8 wickets, seal series 5-1

Centurion: Virat Kohli led from the front with a match-winning century as India defeated South Africa by eight wickets in the sixth ODI here on Friday, thereby sealing the series 5-1.

Kohli, who put up a 61-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan got to his 35^th ODI ton, and his third in this series, as he finished the proceeding with Ajinkya Rahane at the other end.

Lungi Ngidi was the lone wicket-taker for the hosts, removing openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

Earlier, India had won the toss and put South Africa to bat. Shardul Thakur starred with the ball as he picked up four wickets, helping the visitors restrict the hosts for 204.

The top-scorer for the hosts was Khaya Zondo (54 runs), as none of their batsmen, including Aiden Markram and AB de Villiers put up a good show.

The two teams will now travel to Johannesburg, where they will play the first of the three T20s on Sunday.

India 106-2 from 15.3 overs

FIFTY! Captain Virat Kohli has got to his 47th ODI fifty as India march towards another dominant win.

India 80-2 from 12.4 overs

WICKET! Lungi Ngidi strikes again, as he removes Shikhar Dhawan this time.

India 19-1 from 3.4 overs

WICKET! Lungi Ngidi has struck early for South Africa as he removes Rohit Sharma. Heinrich Klaasen makes no mistake in taking the catch, as Ngidi celebrates.

South Africa innings

India bowled out South Africa or 204 runs in the sixth ODI here at SuperSport Park on Friday. Having called it right during the toss, the visitors elected to bowl first.

Shardul Thakur, who last played against Sri Lanka last year, finished with a spell of 4-52. Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal scalped two wickets each, whereas Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav managed a wicket a piece.

Khaya Zondo (54 runs), who scored his maiden international fifty, was the top-scorer for South Africa, whereas AB de Villiers just managed 30 runs. Andile Phehlukwayo and Morne Morkel contributed 34 and 20 runs respectively.

Virat Kohli and co will look to chase down the total quite comfortably, as they eye a 5-1 finish to the series.

South Africa 105-3 from 20.5 overs

WICKET! Yuzvendra Chahal does the trick as he removes AB de Villiers, who continues his poor form.

South Africa 43-2 from 9.5 overs

WICKET! What a catch by Shreyas Iyer, who makes a diving effort to remove captain Aiden Markram. Shardul Thakur strikes once again as he gets his second wicket.

South Africa 23-1 from 6.3 overs

WICKET! Hashim Amla departs early as Shardul Thakur gets a wicket on his return.

Toss

Virat Kohli won the toss in the sixth ODI against South Africa on Friday and elected to field first.

For India, there is one change as Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been rested, and has been replaced by Shardul Thakur.

The hosts, meanwhile, have made as many as four changes. They have brought back Chris Morris, Khaya Zondo, Farhaan Behardien and Imran Tahir.

Here is how both the teams will lineup:

 

Preview

Having won their first bilateral series in South Africa, India will aim to seal the final match of the Momentum ODI series when both the teams lock horns at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.

Virat Kohli and co displayed some fine batting previously with bowlers once again running through the Proteas batting line up with ease.

After dominant victories in the first three games at Durban, Centurion, and Cape Town, the Men in Blue suffered their first defeat of the series during rain-affected and lightning-struck Pink ODI in Johannesburg through the Duckworth-Lewis method by five wickets.

After the heartbreaking loss, India bounced back in fine fashion by winning the fifth ODI by 73 runs and also sealing the series.  

Despite the series in the bag, the India skipper Kohli indicated that visitors might test their bench strength in the dead rubber, hinting they will look to keep up the intensity.

"After this series is wrapped up we'll sit down and think about where to improve. For now, 4-1 feels great. We want to win 5-1, for sure, but there might be a scenario for a few more guys to get a chance in the next match," he said.

South Africa, meanwhile struggled throughout the series so far as their batsmen failed to score enough runs with the bat. With AB de Villiers missing the first three games, regular Skipper Faf du Plessis and wicket keeper Quinton de Kock also injuring themselves, the home side struggled to  put up big scores .

The South African batting lineup also struggled to negotiate the spin of Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. The Proteas will like to end the series on winning note and reduce the deficit to 2-4

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vice-capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Shardul Thakur.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Khaya Zondo.

Match-timings:

The match starts at 4:30 pm IST.

Where to watch the match live?

Live telecast: The match can be seen live on Sony Ten 1 (English commentary) and Sony Ten 3 (Hindi commentary).

Live streaming: It can also be streamed live on Sony LIV, the digital platform on the internet.