Spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s 4-18 shone during a superb Indian bowling attack that clinched their one-day series against South Africa with a crushing seven-wicket win on Tuesday.
The hosts skittled South Africa for 99 in 27.1 overs in the third-match decider, after electing to bowl on a pitch dampened by days of rain in New Delhi.
Shubman Gill made 49 as India chased down their target in 19.1 overs, winning the series 2-1 with a second-string side after Rohit Sharma and team departed for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia.
Kuldeep, a left-arm wrist spinner, came into the attack with South Africa five down and wiped off the tail, striking twice on successive balls before ending the innings with the wicket of Marco Jansen.
Once a regular in the Twenty20 side, Kuldeep was not picked for the World Cup starting October 16, but the 27-year-old said he was “not disappointed”.
“I am not disappointed at all. I am concentrating on my process and looking to get better with every match,” the man of the match told reporters.
“The players who have been selected are the best and my best wishes are with them.”
Spinner Washington Sundar, who bowled the first over and returned with two wickets, helped set up the second straight win for the hosts.
Sundar was handed the new ball and the lanky off-spinner struck in his second over to send back Quinton de Kock, caught at short third man for six.
Pace bowler Mohammed Siraj rattled the top order with the wickets of Janneman Malan, for 15, and Reeza Hendricks, for three, to put South Africa on the back foot.
– ‘Fatigued’ South Africa –
The Proteas slipped further to 43-4 after Aiden Markram’s departure as the batsman fell caught behind off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed for nine.
Heinrich Klaasen, who top-scored with 34, attempted to rebuild with David Miller, who was making his captaincy debut with regular skipper Temba Bavuma and Keshav Maharaj both unwell.
But Sundar bowled the left-handed Miller for seven and the rest of the batting quickly caved in.
Shahbaz, who made his ODI debut in the previous match, bowled Klaasen before — in between the change of batsmen — a dog walked on the field, providing some light relief to the crowd.
It was South Africa’s fourth-lowest total in 50-over matches, after their 69 all out in Sydney and then twice being bowled out for 83.
“In hindsight, the kind of schedule that we have had… we saw the benefits of that as the Indian side, which we played against, were fresh. Our guys were maybe a little bit fatigued,” South African coach Mark Boucher said.
“No excuses for that though. It’s quite difficult because we don’t have the depth that India has in their cricket. We are also under pressure to win every game in the one-dayers to qualify (directly) for the World Cup.”
The defeat leaves South Africa on the brink of missing a direct qualification for next year’s ODI World Cup in India.
They languish at 11th in the Super League table. Only the top eight teams (seven and hosts India) earn direct qualification to the 2023 tournament.
India had little trouble in reply, despite skipper Shikhar Dhawan getting run out on eight and Ishan Kishan falling for 10 off left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin.
Gill, who started the chase with a string of boundaries, kept up the attack with previous-match centurion Shreyas Iyer, who hit an unbeaten 28 and the winning six.
