The first of the three-match ODI series against South Africa at Ranchi was born in a thriller. Corbin Bosch attempted a solo fight at the end. In the end, the host India advanced in the series by winning by 17 runs.
Virat Kohli laid the foundation of the first ODI win. The host team scored 349 runs for 8 wickets with a record 52nd century. Not only Kohli, like him, Rohit Sharma, who retired from Tests and T20s, also played an innings of 57 runs from 51 balls. Kohli-Rohit combined for 136 runs for the second wicket and defeated the visitors of Ranchi. Kohli ended up scoring a spectacular innings of 135 off 120 balls. It had 11 fours and 7 sixes. Moreover, the innings of 60 runs from 56 balls also came from the bat of Acting Captain Lokesh Rahul.
South Africa got off to a terrible start in reply. Harshit Rana dismissed Ryan Rickleton and Quinton de Kock for zero runs. The Proteas' score stood at 11 for 3 when Arshdeep Singh caught captain Aiden Markram (7) in the fifth over, gloved by Rahul.
From there, Matthew Britzke and Marco Jansen brought the team back into the match. With their bat, the team's runs stood at 227 for 5 wickets. However, Kuldeep Yadav dismissed both in the 34th over to bring India back into the match. Britzke scored 72 runs off 80 balls with 8 fours and 1 six. Jansen was more devastating. He played a stormy innings of 70 runs off 39 balls. It had 8 fours and 3 sixes. Still, Corbin Bosh kept the Proteas in the match with a single-handed fight late on. South Africa needed 50 runs to win from the last six overs. Only two wickets in hand. But in the controlled bowling of the Indian bowlers, Bosh and Andre Berger failed to get boundaries in two consecutive overs. While playing big shots as the pressure increased, Berger returned with a catch for 17 runs.
After that, Bosh completed the first fifty of his career, but while playing big shots in the last over, he too was caught for 67 runs from 51 balls. South Africa's innings stopped at 332 runs in 49.2 overs.
Kuldeep Yadav took 4 wickets for 68 runs. Harshit Rana took 3 for 65 runs. Arshdeep Singh took two for 64 runs. One was taken by the famous Krishna.
