The Proteas suffered their third defeat in a row at the World Cup on Wednesday night, losing to India by six wickets in Southampton.
And this time around it was their batsmen who let them down big time as they could only post 227/9 in their allotted 50 overs.
That score could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for their lower order that saw South Africa recover from 89/5.
This after Hashim Amla (6), Quinton de Kock (10), Rassie van der Dussen (22) and JP Duminy (3) all failed to make useful contributions after captain Faf du Plessis (38) won the toss and decided to bat first at the Rose Bowl.
MATCH RESULT
The Proteas fought hard but it wasn’t enough. They lost by six wickets in their third fixture of the #CWC19. #ProteaFire🔥 #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/ka0Hw81NxT
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) June 5, 2019
Battling against India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4/51), allrounders Chris Morris (42) and Andile Phehlukhwayo (34) and speedster Kagiso Rabada (31) added some respectability to the SA scorecard.
HEROIC: Yster Kagiso Rabada, centre. Photo: Gavin Barker/Backpagepix.
In the end, it was actually the bowlers of the team that gave themselves something to bowl at.
And Rabada (2/39), in particular, bowled with real fire, taking the first wicket of Shikhar Dhawan (8) with India’s score on 13.
Wicketkeeper De Kock then took a superb catch of the bowling of Phehlukwayo to remove danger man Virat Kohli for 18.
🇮🇳🇮🇳 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/C4DHUraMRA
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 5, 2019
But Dhawan’s opening partner Rohit Sharma dropped anchor and continued to pile on the runs to take the game away from South Africa and ended up scoring an unbeaten 122 to guide his team to victory.