India claim series as they down Proteas despite Miller century

A scintillating century by David Miller was not enough as India sparkled with bat and ball to win by 16 runs and claim a 2-0 series win at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, on Sunday.

Miller (106 runs off 47 deliveries including eight fours and seven sixes) and Quinton de Kock (69 off 48) threw everything they had at the bowlers, scoring 174 off 84 but it was too little too late as their slow start proved to be their downfall.

The Indian batsmen, who were put in to bat after losing the toss, put themselves in a strong position as they amassed 237/3 from their allotted 20 overs.

The Proteas lost two early wickets when Arshdeep Singh had captain Temba Bavuma caught at mid-off by Virat Kohli for a seven-ball duck before Riley Rossouw (0) was caught by Dinesh Karthik with just one run on the board.

De Kock got a boundary off the final delivery before a floodlight failure caused the match to be halted temporarily with the score on 5/2 after two overs.

Aiden Markram and De Kock took SA to 45/2 at the end of the power play before Axar Patel bowled Markram for 33 in the seventh over.  Miller went past 50 off just 25 deliveries in the 14th over, before De Kock smashed two sixes and a four an over later, taking SA to 143. He then struck two boundaries off Harshal Patel to bring up the 100 partnership, as De Kock went past 50.

Miller’s fifth six saw the Proteas move past 200 in the 19th over before three more maximums in the final over saw them end on 221/3.

Arshdeep finished with 2/62 from his four-over ration and Axar finished with 1/53 in four.

Flow freely

Captain Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul hit 96 runs for the first wicket before they lost their first wicket. Keshav Maharaj picked up the two openers in the final two overs of his spell to finish with 2/23 from four overs. He first had Sharma, who made 43 off 37, caught by Tristan Stubbs before trapping Rahul in front shortly after the right-hander had registered his second half-century of the series.

The decision, which was reviewed, saw umpire Virender Sharma’s decision upheld as Rahul went for 57 off 27. With Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav the runs continued to flow freely as the SA seamers struggled to hit the right lengths.

Yadav hit his second half-century of the series in just 18 deliveries and reached 61 off 22 deliveries before he was run out at the non-striker’s end, the dismissal completed by Bavuma and Anrich Nortjé with the score on 209/3 in the 19th over.

Dinesh Karthik smashed 16 off the final over to end on 17 in seven deliveries as Kohli finished on 49 off 28 not out to end the innings.

Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell and Lungi Ngidi conceded 160 runs collectively in their four overs without taking a wicket, while Nortjé, who effected the run-out of Yadav, shipped 41 runs in three overs.