Tag : Proteas

    South Africa registers unwanted record on home soil as India ride Arshdeep, Avesh heroics to win opening ODI

    Team India
    Pankaj Sharma
    December17/ 2023

    Johannesburg [South Africa]: India's quick bowling pair of Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan wreaked havoc on the hapless Proteas in the opening ODI at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday, handing them one of their worst records on home soil. Hunting in pairs to devastating consequences, Arshdeep and Avesh breathed fire, skittling out the Proteas for just 116. It turned out to be South Africa's lowest total in ODIs on home soil. Their previous lowest was also against India, 118 at Centurion in 2018. With the surface offering a lot of purchase for the quick bowlers, Arshdeep literally had the ball on a string as he claimed his maiden five-for in the 50-over format. Coming in first change, Avesh, too, bowled with great pace and fire, registering impressive figures of 4/27 in 8 overs. Both pacers combined to claim nine wickets between them, which was the most by Indian pacers against South Africa in an ODI innings. The previous best hunting by the Indian quick bowlers in his format was eight wickets at Mohali in 1993 and then again at Centurion in 2013. Through his sensational bowling effort, Arshdeep, who copped a lot of flak over his inconsistent showings in limited-overs formats coming into this game, became the first Indian pacer to claim a five-for against South Africa in ODIs. Before him, three Indian bowlers had registered figures of five or more wickets in an ODI against the Proteas. However, they were all spinners. Sunil Joshi registered sensational figures of 5/6 against the Proteas in 1999, leggie Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 5/22 in 2018 and Ravindra Jadeja claimed 5/33 earlier this year. After winning the toss, South Africa skipper Aiden Markram surprisingly opted to bat first. However, the decision proved costly as the India ...

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