On the back of a century from Shreyas Iyer and 93 from Ishan Kishan, India chased down the target of 279 with a total of 25 balls left on what seemed like a two-paced surface with also some grip in Ranchi in the second ODI against South Africa to level the series 1-1.
The third and deciding ODI will be played on Tuesday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
Chasing a steep target on a slightly difficult track, India lost both the openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill, inside 9 overs. But from thereon, Kishan and Shreyas Iyer took the command. Not only did the pair bail India out of trouble, but they did with regular boundaries, turning the pressure back on the Protea bowlers.
While Kishan was disdainful, mauling the bowlers to boundaries, Shreyas held back and played the anchor role. Kishan missed his century by only 7 runs, but Iyer ensured he brought up his second ODI century, his first one was in February 2020 in New Zealand. Sanju Samson came in and smashed quick-fire 30 runs to complete the chase along with Iyer.
This is, not to forget, India’s second-string side that has defeated a largely first-choice South African team as the first-choice players are either in Australia for the T20 World Cup or injured. Over the past couple, India have flexed their depth in talent by fielding their second-string side regularly.
Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle has been impressed with the batting might of India’s second-string side. Bhogle heaped praise on the vast batting talent pool India has in their arsenal, something that’d make other boards envious.
In fact, according to Harsha Bhogle, the depth in batting in the Indian team is at the highest it ever has been!
“I don’t think the depth in Indian white ball batting has been greater than it is now,” Bhogle tweeted.
I don’t think the depth in Indian white ball batting has been greater than it is now.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 9, 2022
Ishan Kishan, who was playing at his home ground, was elated to have made a large contribution to India’s win in Ranchi.
“Really happy about with the way we contributed to the team. It is my home ground, there were too many people watching. When I was fielding they were asking me to get a hundred today, unfortunately I missed it. No worries, I’m just happy that my team won the game today and maybe in the next game I will give my best and make my team win again. It’s difficult here sometimes, because I played so many matches in Ranchi, it is not easy for the new batters to score runs, so we were looking to play according to the merit of the ball and not to play any harsh shots, and it’s a matter of putting the pressure on the other team as well and the positive mindset helped a lot,” Kishan said.
