South Africa defeated India by 48 runs via Duckorth and Lewis method in the rain-hit fourth One-day international to level the series 2-2 at St George park in Port Elizabeth.
South Africa defeated India by 48 runs via Duckorth and Lewis method in the rain-hit fourth One-day international to level the series 2-2 at St George park in Port Elizabeth today.
India, who were originally chasing 266 to win, were set a revised target of 260 in 46 overs after rain had stopped play for the first time.
Rain stopped play soon after resuming and umpires called off the match with South Africa emerging winners.
Earlier, JP Duminy struck a defiant 71-run unbeaten knock to lead Proteas to a competitive 265 for seven.
Duminy came up with the fighting knock when the chips were down for the hosts and combined well with the lower-order batsmen to give the hosts a competitive total to defend after winning the toss and opting to bat.
Except for Hashim Amla (64), none of the top-order Proteas batsmen could convert good starts but it was not easy to score freely on the slow St George Park's track.
The hard work done by Duminy and his partners ensured that South Africa have enough runs on the board in the end and that India will have to work hard to score their first ever series-win in this country.
Apart from the good job done by India's part time bowlers, the three inexplicable run outs prevented South Africa from getting a better scorecard.
India's spinners did a decent job in the middle overs by checking the run flow and Yuvraj Singh (3/34) was quite effective as he took three wickets.
Duminy came on to bat in the mid of the South African innigs and batted till the last over as he shared two crucial partnerships with Johan Botha (44) and Robin Petersen (31).
Duminy's determination reflected in his 72-ball knock as he hit just two boundaries and a six, which came in the 50th over, and ran hard to anchor the hosts innings.
South Africa had lost five wickets at the score of 118 but Duminy and Botha dug in and steadied the rocking ship with their 70-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
Yuvraj broke the stand by having Botha stumped but Petersen supported Duminy well and the duo added another crucial 60 runs for the seventh wicket.
Earlier, after a rather sedate start, South African openers Graeme Smith and Amla gradually accelerated the pace of scoring by hitting a few boundaries.
While Amla showed his aggressive intent by clobbering Munaf Patel to the boundary, Smith picked up Zaheer Khan for special treatment by spanking for two boundaries.
Amla suddenly broke free and slammed a flurry of delightful boundaries to take South Africa's score beyond the 50 mark in quick time.
Paceman Ashish Nehra provided the breakthrough when he got the prized scalp of Smith (18). The South African captain went down the track and flat batted it towards mid-off where Harbhajan Singh took a brilliant catch.
Amla continued to play aggressively at the other end and notched up his half century with a boundary off the bowling of part-timer Yuvraj Singh.
The complexion of the game changed dramatically after that as the hosts slumped to 118 for five as Amla (65), Morne van Wyk (15), A B de Villiers (3) and Faf du Plassis (1) perished in quick succession.
Yuvraj Singh accounted for van Wyk with Virat Kohli taking a smart catch while Amla was run out. The Punjab player dealt another blow to the hosts innings when he had de villiers caught behind.
As if that was not enough, Plassis ran himself out to add to the woes of the hosts.
South Africa: 265 for 7 in 50 overs. (JP Duminy 71 not out, Hashim Amla 64, Johan Botha 44; Yuvraj Singh 3/34).
India: 142 for six in 32.5 overs. (Virat Kohli 87 batting, Lonwabo Tsotsobe 2/25).
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