Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. (AP Photo)
It was the 8th over of the South Africa innings and Jasprit Bumrah literally cut Proteas opener Hashim Amla into half with one that moved in sharply after pitching. Even as Kohli was convinced that the ball had clipped the inside edge of the bat on its way to keeper Dhoni, the former India skipper just smiled to signal to Kohli that there was no bat involved.
In fact, even ODI deputy Rohit Sharma was convinced along with Kohli and Bumrah that the umpire was wrong and a review should have been sought. But replays showed that it was once again MSD who had called it right as the ball had hit the pad on its way to Dhoni behind the wickets.
Virat Kohli though was convinced that he had heard something and even consulted Rohit about going for the review.
— 💛 (@WHISTLE_P0DU) February 12, 2018
MS Dhoni though quickly signalled to Kohli that there was no bat involved and that they shouldn’t go for a review here.
"Dhoni Review System" pic.twitter.com/njA8DdVU8q
Interestingly, Dhoni as the captain was not very fond of the Decision Review System and felt that it needed changes before becoming a permanent fixture in international games.
Coming back to Saturday's game, riding on century from Shikhar Dhawan and yet another half-century from Virat Kohli, India posted a decent total of 289/7 in their designated 50 overs. Then, 7 overs into chase, bad weather forced the players off and reduced South Africa’s target to 202 from 28 overs.
Amla and Duminy resumed proceedings, but Kuldeep removed both of them in quick succession and it seemed spinners would continue to haunt the Proteas. De Villiers decided to attack the spinners, and took 16 runs from Chahal’s first over as South Africa started going for their shots.
When Pandya removed de Villiers for a quickfire 26, it looked as if India might come back into the game. But then, Klaasen and Miller put together 72-runs to take the game away from the visitors.
Some luck and unorthodox aggressive batting was the key for South Africa as they hit the spinners for total of 119 runs in 11.3 overs, Chahal had dismissed Miller on 6 but replays showed that the leg-spinner had overstepped. Miller made full use of the second chance as he ended up 39 off 28 balls.
But some pre-meditated hitting from Klaasen was the key as he remained unbeaten on 43, guiding his team home. Phehlukwayo also smashed 23 off 5 balls as South Africa reached the target with 5 wickets to spare.
DRSHashim AmlaIndia vs South Africajasprit bumrahMS Dhonirohit sharmaSouth Africa vs India 2018virta kohli
First Published: February 12, 2018, 10:57 AM IST