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Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: George Binoy
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.
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.
STR Binny c Amla b Rabada 2 (18m 5b 0x4 0x6) SR: 40.00
MS Dhoni c & b Rabada 31 (54m 30b 1x4 0x6) SR: 103.33
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.
"I switched off mentally for the rest of the day and I detached myself from the team because it was clear I was not wanted"
Fast bowling played a far larger role in South Africa than spin did in India
The seeming vacillation and inconsistency over Rahane's place in the order tells a story - and it does not say good things about India's captain
The ICC has given the Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur, which hosted the third Test between India and South Africa, an official warning under its pitch monitoring process
Or: Four Stats I Have Dug Up and Polished Before Deciding it Was Bedtime and They Would Have to Do For the Stats of the Year
4
No. of instances of India batsmen hitting centuries in chases in ODIs against SA before Roiht Sharma in this match.
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.
65.59
Rohit Sharma's batting average in ODIs in India - double his average of 32.60 outside India.
54
Balls AB had taken to score his fifty. He took only 19 more deliveries to make his century.
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.
0
No. of ODIs David Miller had played in India before this match. He had played 49 T20 matches.
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.
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.
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.
