SA survive Pathan's heroics to clinch Series 3-2

Tags: India tour of South Africa -2010-11, India v South Africa 5th ODI at Centurion- Jan 23, 2011, India, Hashim Mahomed Amla, Yusuf Khan Pathan, Morne Morkel

Published on: Jan 23, 2011

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

South Africa won the fifth and final ODI at Centurion after surviving a heroic century from Yusuf Pathan which was threatening to steal the match and the series from the hosts!

India Innings

South Africa won the fifth and final ODI at Centurion after surviving a heroic century from Yusuf Pathan which was threatening to steal the match and the series from the hosts! However, Morne Morkel got rid of Pathan at the right time to once again bring SA back in control of the match which they won by 38 runs. Zaheer Khan who helped Yusuf Pathan in a mind-boggling 100-run stand for the ninth wicket went down fighting with his 24 (from 58 balls).
India in their run chase were in tatters with the top order collapsing with hardly any runs on the board! Parthiv Patel was the only one who looked good but he couldn't go beyond a 34-ball 38. South Africa's pace trio reduced India to 74 for 6 in 13.5 overs! Soon the score was 119 for 8 in the 23rd over when Yusuf Pathan was joined by Zaheer Khan. Pathan took his chances whenever he could and with every lusty hit took India to a respectable total. His partnership with Zaheer Khan grew to such an extent that South Africa were starting to worry about a defeat.
It was in the 36th over that Morne Morkel bailed out SA when Yusuf Pathan miscued a big shot to be caught by Faf du Plessis at extra covers. Pathan had by then cracked 105 in 70 balls with 8 fours and 8 brutal sixes to take India from a disastrous 119 for 8 to 219 for 9! The last wicket pair of Zaheer and Munaf added up 15 runs before the former holed out to long off. India got bowled out for 234 all out in 40.2 overs. The Man of the Match went to Hashim Amla who came up with an unbeaten century in the first half. The Man of the Series award went to Morne Morkel who claimed 4 for 54 today to take his series tally to 12 wickets.
South Africa Innings
South Africa have finished at 250 for 9 in the allotted 46 overs in the final ODI at Centurion. Rain interrupted the proceedings during the 43rd over and after a delayed resumption, four overs were cut from the SA innings. India's target has been revised according to the D/L Method to 268 from 46 overs. The hero of the South African innings was opener Hashim Amla who carried his bat with an unbeaten 116 from 132 balls with 9 fours.
There was an early breakthrough for India when Zaheer Khan forced Graeme Smith edged him to second slip in the 3rd over. That didn't cause much damage as Amla with Morne van Wyk took the Indian attack apart to score freely. India's next breakthrough came only in the 23rd over having conceded a 97-run stand for the 2nd wicket. Morne van Wyk looked impressive in his attacking 56 from 63 balls with 8 fours before he was out to a brilliant one handed return catch from Yuvraj Singh. There was a quick wicket for India after this when AB de Villiers coming down the track got beaten by a turning ball from Yuvraj Singh to get stumped in the 27th over.
South Africa were in a spot of bother at 129 for 3 but cruised through in the middle overs thanks to another solid partnership - this time coming from Amla and Duminy. Just when SA were looking to blast some quick runs during the Batting Powerplay, rain disrupted the action and once play resumed as many as six wickets went down in a hurry. The hosts had to settle to 250 for 9 in 46 overs while adding only 24 runs in 24 balls.

Toss and Teams

MS Dhoni has won the toss and asked South Africa to bat first in the fifth and final ODI at the Supersport Park in Centurion. The conditions here are overcast and there is a definite threat of rain which is the reason why even South Africa would have opted to chase had they won the toss. The hosts have gone in with an unchanged teams while India have made one change with leg spinner Piyush Chawla replacing Ashish Nehra.

South Africa : HM Amla, GC Smith (C), MN van Wyk, AB de Villiers (WK), JP Duminy, F du Plessis, J Botha, RJ Peterson, DW Steyn, M Morkel, LL Tsotsobe
India : PA Patel, RG Sharma, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, SK Raina, YK Pathan, MS Dhoni (C&WK), Harbhajan Singh, PP Chawla, Z Khan, MM Patel
- BV Swagath

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