India VS South Africa ODI: Shreyas Iyer leads India to seven-wicket win

Shreyas (113*) and Kishan (93) top scored for India, who chased down what appeared to be a stiff target of 279 with 4.1 overs to spare in the end.

And the majority of the work was done by the duo Shreyas and Kishan. The pitch at Ranchi was expected to be challenging, especially since South Africa struggled in the sluggish conditions.

To make things worse, India lost both openers before the ninth over. Shikhar Dhawan, the stand-in skipper of this second-string side, was the first to depart for 13.

He charged down to a ball from Wayne Parnell but misread the line entirely and saw his stumps uprooted.

And Shubman Gill played a simple one back to Kagiso Rabada, who made no mistake and held on to the return catch.

However, two things happened after that, removing the game from the visitors. One, the pitch became better to bat on under floodlights. And two, Shreyas and Kishan put together a 161-run stand for the third wicket.

Kishan was the more aggressive of the two, as was demonstrated by the fact he hit four fours and a whopping seven sixes. However, he threw away his wicket and was denied a maiden ODI ton when he holed out to Reeza Hendricks off debutant Bjorn Fortuin.

However, Shreyas soldiered on, and his knock wasn’t about hard-hitting but about rotating the strike and finding the boundaries when the opportunity arose.

Given the target wasn’t a massive one, it was an approach that worked perfectly. Once Kishan departed, he was joined by Sanju Samson, who employed a similar path.

Samson only hit one four and one six during his 36-ball stay at the crease. But he rotated the strike well and kept the scoreboard ticking at a time when the asking rate was well under control.

As such, India was in no trouble even after Kishan departed, and Shreyas was able to bring up his maiden ODI ton. Fittingly, he was the one who finished the match with a boundary off Anrich Nortje.

Earlier, South Africa struggled on a slow pitch and often kept low. It didn’t help that their openers, Janneman Malan (25) and Quinton de Kock (5), didn’t contribute much.

Half-centuries from Reeza Hendricks (74) and Aiden Markram (79) ensured the scoreboard ticked along nicely. However, when both departed in quick succession, the Proteas struggled.

Heinrich Klaasen (30) and David Miller (35) got a few runs towards the end. Still, it wasn’t enough, especially with a side with debutant all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed and the returning Washington Sundar in the playing XI.

As it turned out, India didn’t even need the two to come out to bat; such was the dominance shown by the middle order.

The third and final ODI takes place in New Delhi on Tuesday (October 11).