South Africa defeated India by 33 runs by the Duckworth Lewis method in the fifth and final ODI today at the SuperSport Park, Centurion. South Africa won the series 3-2.
India won the toss and put South Africa into bat first. Graeme Smith (7) left early in the innings but Hashim Amla was unstoppable today and went on to record his seventh ODI century. He found an able ally in Morne van Wyk who scored 56 runs with eight boundaries. The duo raised 97 runs before Yuvraj Singh struck for India with two wickets.
Amla then added 102 runs for the fourth wicket with JP Duminy (35). South Africa were cruising at 226/3 when rain stopped play for a while. The match was reduced to 46 overs each and on resumption, the Proteas lost six wickets to score just 24 runs. Amla remained unbeaten on 116 runs that came from 132 balls with nine fours. Amla was dropped by 12th man R Ashwin, when the batsman was on 71 runs.
For India, Munaf Patel took 3/50 in his eight overs while Zaheer Khan (2/47) and Yuvraj Singh (2/45) chipped in with two wickets apiece and South Africa were limited to 250/9.
The target for India was revised to 268 runs from 46 overs. The Indian chase got off to a bizarre start with Rohit Sharma (5), Virat Kohli (2) MS Dhoni (5) and Yuvraj Singh (8) falling to ill-advised shots. Suresh Raina (11) succumbed to the short ball once again. Parthiv Patel scored a 34-ball 38 runs studded with six fours but was unlucky to get out to a blinder of a catch from Faf du Plessis. At 119/8 in the 23rd over, the game looked all over for the visitors.
However, Yusuf Pathan played a superb innings to bring back some hope in the Indian camp. He hit 105 runs off just 70 balls to bring India on the threshold of an improbable victory. Pathan hit eight sixes and an equal number of fours and added an exact 100 runs before he got out going for a big hit. When Pathan got out India needed just 49 runs in ten overs but with only one wicket left, it proved an uphill task and India folded out for 234 runs with still six overs left.
Hashim Amla was declared player of the match for his outstanding century while Morne Morkel was chosen the player of the series for splendid bowling throughout the series.