Player of the Match
Player of the Match

END OF OVER:
50 | 5 Runs 2 Wkts | IND: 298/7 (6 runs required, RR: 5.96)

  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar1 (1b)
  • Amit Mishra0 (0b)
  • Kagiso Rabada10-0-58-2
  • Dale Steyn10-0-54-1

5.05 pm India were cruising the chase when Rohit and Rahane were batting, but after Rahane was dismissed Rohit appeared to be doing all the run-making. And once Tahir got him out, the rustiness of the rest of India's batsmen shone through. South Africa have pulled off an impressive squeeze, and can thank Tahir and Rabada, who delivered at critical junctures.

Nakul: "South Africa haven't won this match. Dhoni has given it away to them. Why come ahead of Raina when you aren't in greater of forms and when Raina can slog better. Put pressure on Rohit instead of releasing it. Disappointed." That's a fair question. Raina came out with no time to settle at all, and was out slogging so early.

Here's South Africa's last-over hero, Kagiso Rabada: "I think I owed that to the team because I dropped Rohit on the boundary. That could have turned out badly. I was feeling a bit of nerves because you have MS Dhoni on the other side, I've been watching him since I was a kid and seen how destructive he is. I'm happy I pulled through today. I wasn't thinking about the hat-trick, there were a lot of things in my mind."

Abhishek: "Feel for poor Rohit who has shone with the bat till now. Two centuries & two losses. Must be feeling gutted!!"

Shantanu: "I'm looking at this a bit differently. Dhoni has lost the ability to hit big shots at will no doubt. But that just means he's more suited to no 4 role now. He can still get a run a ball 50 or 100 just by getting singles and doubles. 3,4,5 have slowed India down."

Here's the presentation ceremony ...

MS Dhoni: "The outcome was not great for us, there were plenty that went wrong, but we showed character to get close. Frankly we should have won this game ... We missed Ash's six overs that was crucial because he was our best spinner ... until that point the plan was working beautifully but I had to get more overs from Binny and Raina. In the end I thought out bowlers should have done a bit better ... I thought the partnership between Rohit and Rahane was superb to keep it ticking ..."

Dhoni on his innings: "It was a bit difficult, it was not coming at a good height so it becomes difficult on such a wicket, it was a bit two paced once the ball gets scuffed. A lot depends on the execution part, it's not only about the boundaries you have to keep the score ticking ..."

He them goes on to say it doesn't matter how the runs come, whether of his bat or the thigh pad.

AB de Villiers is the man of the match, obviously. AB: "I thought it was an amazing game of cricket, close games like that bring the fans in. There were lots of times when the momentum turned, I thought Tahir's over turned the game on its head, we were out of it then. Rabada proved to be a handful and he's got a bright future ... We just want to go an rest and then move on to the next game." AB looks quite knackered!

koka: "Don't blame Dhoni, The Finisher. With 90 Required off the last 10 overs he made 31(30) and the rest had just done 54(30) and are 5 runs short !!"

Right, that's all I've got for you today. I'm going to give my hands a rest. Stick around for the match report and analysis from a game that is bound to generate quite some debate. Thank you for all your emails. Have a good evening. Cheers.

49.6
1
Rabada to Kumar, 1 run, the final ball is limply hit past the bowler for a single. Rabada stands tall in a high pressure situation, defending 11 in the final over to give South Africa a 1-0 lead

India need six off the final ball to tie the game. AB did it for SA. Can Rabada take his second ODI hat-trick? India have had a shambolic finish to their chase that seemed to be going so well. Tahir and Rabada have been superb.

49.5
W
Rabada to Binny, OUT, Rabada has all but done it for South Africa! Binny also too edges the pull and skies the catch to square leg, Rabada tries to go for it himself again, but leaves it to Amla who comes running in to catch it.

STR Binny c Amla b Rabada 2 (18m 5b 0x4 0x6) SR: 40.00

49.4
W
Rabada to Dhoni, OUT, Dhoni has been caught and bowled! This is an innings that will be discussed for a while now. He's charged the young fast bowler and aimed a slog across the line, he top edged the ball high in the air and Rabada calls for it coolly and takes the catch. Dhoni fails to see India through, they need seven off two balls.

MS Dhoni c & b Rabada 31 (54m 30b 1x4 0x6) SR: 103.33

49.3
1
Rabada to Binny, 1 run, Binny flat bats the ball past Rabada, not timing it well, over to Dhoni now. Seven needed off three balls.
49.2
1
Rabada to Dhoni, 1 run, Dhoni charges and is cramped for room as he pulls, the ball goes to deep midwicket, just the single this time, Binny will have the strike
49.1
2
Rabada to Dhoni, 2 runs, a fumble from Behardien at deep midwicket gives Dhoni the second run and the strike! Dhoni had swiped across the line at a short of a length ball and made good contact

Dhoni v Rabada. One batsman against one bowler. 11 to get in the final over. Pressure game. Dhoni seems to have upped his intensity, and some of his timing.

END OF OVER:
49 | 11 Runs | IND: 293/5 (11 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.97, RRR: 11.00)

  • MS Dhoni28 (27b)
  • Stuart Binny1 (3b)
  • Dale Steyn10-0-54-1
  • Kagiso Rabada9-0-53-0
48.6
1
Steyn to Dhoni, 1 run, cut hard but Phangiso dives to his left at point and makes a crucial save, that was headed to the boundary

Kanpur is chanting their captain's name in unison.

48.5
2
Steyn to Dhoni, 2 runs, Dhoni steps out of his crease and slaps the length ball to deep cover, where Amla can't prevent the second
48.4
4
Steyn to Dhoni, FOUR, Dhoni finally has a boundary! He moves across towards the off side, gets down low, and scoops the ball from outside off to the fine leg boundary

Only the fifth

4

No. of instances of India batsmen hitting centuries in chases in ODIs against SA before Roiht Sharma in this match.

Kohli at No. 4

64.35

Virat Kohli's average batting at No. 4 - the best he averages at any position. He has scored 1094 runs at No. 4 including 4 hundreds.

a different batsman

65.59

Rohit Sharma's batting average in ODIs in India - double his average of 32.60 outside India.

Acceleration=AB

54

Balls AB had taken to score his fifty. He took only 19 more deliveries to make his century.

Awesome AB

7

No. of fifty-plus scores AB de Villiers has made in his last ten ODI innings in India. Five of these have been hundreds.

Miller's first

0

No. of ODIs David Miller had played in India before this match. He had played 49 T20 matches.

Faf's improvement

7

50+ scores by du Plessis in ODIs in each of the last 2 years - '14 and '15. He had a total of 7 such scores in 3 years before 2014.

AB at home

4

No. of centuries by AB de Villiers in his previous six ODI innings in India. Overall, he averages 63.91 in ODIs in India.

Slower than usual

66.00

Hashim Amla's SR in his first-50 balls in this inns, as opposed to his average strikes rate of 84.28 in his first-50 balls in ODIs.