India vs South Africa, 1st ODI: AB de Villiers, Kagiso Rabada steal show in visitors win

Kagiso Rabada (L) and AB de Villiers (R) were star performers for South Africa with both bat and ball respectively. [Source: Reuters (L), PTI (R) ]AB de Villiers produced a sparkling 104 not out on Sunday as South Africa enjoyed a thrilling five-run win over India in the first one-day international of a five-game series.

De Villiers helped his team to build a formidable 303-5 and India, despite Rohit Sharma’s superb 150, could not get enough quick runs down the order against tight bowling and twin strikes by Imran Tahir and Kagiso Rabada.

India finished on 298-7 with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 30-ball 31 not packing enough firepower.

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Tahir dismissed Rohit and Suresh Raina in the 47th over, and Rabada bowled a fine last over in which he had Dhoni and Stuart Binny caught in the infield as they went after the 11 runs required off six deliveries.

“I thought it was an amazing game of cricket,” De Villiers said. “There were lots of times when the momentum turned. I thought Tahir’s over turned the game on its head. Rabada proved to be a handful and he’s got a bright future.”

Rohit was once again left disappointed after playing a fine innings as his 106 in the first Twenty20 against South Africa at Dharamsala also went in vain as the opposition chased down a 200-run target.

Rohit struck six sixes and 13 fours off 133 deliveries before he was caught and bowled by Tahir at 269-4 with 46.1 overs gone.

Rohit got to his eighth ODI century with a flicked four over mid-wicket off seam bowler Farhaan Behardien and struck some lusty blows on the leg-side when the asking rate climbed.

He added 149 for the second wicket with Ajinkya Rahane who scored 60 off 82 balls before being dismissed while trying to force the pace.

The flow of runs slowed at this stage and the dismissal of Virat Kohli put further pressure with Dale Steyn in operation.

Earlier, electing to bat, South Africa progressed steadily before a De Villiers special propelled the team to a challenging total.

De Villiers smashed six sixes and five fours in his 73-ball knock as South Africa became the first side to surpass 300 at the Kanpur ground.

The hard-hitting batsman plundered the bowlers at will, taking advantage of an India attack handicapped due to the absence of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who went off the field after 4.4 overs with what looked like a side strain.

“We missed Ash’s six overs because he was our best spinner,” Dhoni said. “Until that point the plan was working beautifully but I had to get more overs from Binny and Raina.”

De Villiers produced some huge shots and reached his 21st ODI century with a six over long-on off pace bowler Umesh Yadav on the last ball of the innings.

De Villiers, who struck 21 runs off a Stuart Binny over, was supported well by Behardien as the pair added 65 in the last 4.5 overs.

Behardien scored 35 not out off 19 balls to make up for the lack of a notable contribution from Jean-Paul Duminy.

Twenty20 captain Faf du Plessis contributed a useful 62 off 77 deliveries after openers Hashim Amla (37) and Quinton de Kock (29) had done their bit.