4th ODI: South Africa beat India in nail-biting finish

South African batsman Heinrich Klaasen L and South African batsman Andile Pehlukwayo R celebrate after winning the fourth One Day International cricket match between South Africa and India at Wanderers cricket ground in Johannesburg PicAFPSouth Africa survived a nailbiting finish to edge out India by five wickets in a raincurtailed fourth OneDay International ODI here on Saturday India who had won the first three ODIs now have a 31 lead in the sixmatch series Electing to bat first India rode on opener Shikhar Dhawans 13th ODI century to post 2897 in their 50 overs Dhawan scored 109 runs off 105 balls and shared a 158run stand with skipper Virat Kohli who scored 75The match was interrupted by rain and inclement weather on more than one occasion which saw the target being reduced to 202 runs off 28 overs for South Africa The Indian bowlers dominated South African batsmen in the initial stages With their top four batsmen back in the pavilion by the 17th over with just 102 runs on the board the Proteas seemed to have lost their way and headed for certain defeatWhen David Miller was bowled while trying to hit an incoming delivery from legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal the visitors must have thought that the match was as good as in the bag But miraculously for South Africa television replays revealed that the delivery was a noball and Miller was back in the middle That turned out to be the turning point as the match quickly turned on its headMiller celebrated by smashing pacer Hardik Pandya for three consecutive boundaries in the next over and the momentum abruptly turned in the hosts favour Chahal did manage to dismiss Miller eventually trapping him leg before But Miller who scored 39 runs off 28 balls with four boundaries and two sixes had turned the momentum decisively South Africas wayHeinrich Klaasen continued the good work plundering an unbeaten 43 off 27 deliveries with the help of five boundaries and a six Andile Phehlukwayo was also on fire at the other end smashing three sixes his way to a whirlwind 23 off just five balls as the hosts celebrated a well deserved victory Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav was the most successful among the Indian bowlers with figures of 251 while fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah Pandya and Chahal got a wicket eachEarlier Dhawan shared a 158run secondwicket stand with Kohli after opener Rohit Sharma was dismissed early on India were cruising at 1972 in 34 overs when play was interrupted for nearly an hour due to lightning After play resumed India lost the plot and lost wickets regularly to what looked an underpar total Before the interruption however Dhawan and Kohli dominated the home bowlers and steered India to a position of strengthKohli stamped his authority as he continued to punish the South African bowlers For someone coming into the match with scores of 112 46 not out 160 not out batting looked easy He registered his 46th ODI fifty South Africa playing without any spinners looked out of ideas to stop the two with no variety in their bowling Parttime JeanPaul Duminy delivered four overs of spin but expectedly didnt look like taking a wicketThe stand was broken when Kohli hit pacer Chris Morris straight into the hands of David Miller at short cover with India at 1782 in 311 overs Indias march was halted by lightening with dark clouds hovering over the New Wanderers Stadium When the match resumed Dhawan was the first to be dismissed driving Morne Morkel to AB De Villiers at midoff Ajinkya Rahane 8 too perished with a pull off Lungi Ngidi failing to clear Rabada at deep square leg With these two wickets things suddenly looked gloomy for India who were at 2104The saviour of India was old warhorse Mahendra Singh Dhoni who remained not out 42 off 43 deliveries At the other end Ngidi and Rabada accounted for Shreyas Iyer 18 and Hardik Pandya 9 to dent Indias hopes of a late surge but Dhoni once again showed why he is so important for the sideBrief scoresSouth Africa 2075 in 253 overs Heinrich Klaasen 43 not out David Miller 39 Kuldeep Yadav 251 vs India 2897 Shikhar Dhawan 109 Virat Kohli 75 Mahendra Singh Dhoni 42 not out Lungi Ngidi 252 Kagiso Rabada 258Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the goThe contentreporting displayed on our website wwwmiddaycom is provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE by us from third party agencies sources without any verification from our side It may contain error bugs and other limitations The readers can rely on the content at their own will Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability data text images video messages or any other material whatsoever or for any claimslossaction that the reader may suffer as a result of relying on the content on our site Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever