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New Delhi: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s impressive form in the ODI series against South Africa not only made fans happy but also thrilled the young South African batters.
From Ryan Rickelton to Matthew Breetzke to Dewald Brevis all playing ODIs against India for the first time getting a close look at two of the format’s top ten run-scorers was a learning opportunity their coach, Shukri Conrad, wants them to learn from Kohli and Rohit. “For our young batters to see what the world’s best – Virat and Rohit – can do and how they go about the business, I’d like to think that we’ll take that learning with us and then grow from there.”
Kohli dominated the series with two back-to-back hundred and a half-century. He ended as the top run-getter, while Rohit smashed two elegant fifties. Their contributions were key to India putting up big totals, and although South Africa matched those scores in two games, the reliability of India’s star duo was something to admirer.
South Africa’s top scorer was Breetzke, who scored two half-centuries fifties, while Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock scored centuries, Temba Bavuma and Brevis contributed with half-centuries, but South Africa as a unit couldn’t build on those starts the way they needed to.
Rickelton’s form is now a concern, and the makeup of the top order is still uncertain. Adding to their challenges, Tony de Zorzi, who had performed well in the subcontinent over the past two months, will miss significant time with a grade-three hamstring injury, disrupting South Africa’s medium-term plans even further.
South Africa is scheduled to play nine more ODIs on the FTP before April 2027, which is a long time but not enough games to fully lock in their plans for the home World Cup. Still, with the tournament quite far away, there isn’t much reason to worry yet, and Conrad isn’t either. “Part of this is building towards 2027, the World Cup in South Africa and I’d like to think that a few things are starting to fall into place for that,” he said. “We’ve built a lot of experience and you gain so much more experience when you’re up against the best.”
After their Test team’s strong show last month, South Africa failed to impress in the ODIs. They finished 18 runs short of a 350 chase in the first match, successfully hunted down 359 in the second, and then failed to put up a defendable score in the third, the only game where they batted first. Still, Conrad refused to cite that as an excuse.
“There’s no doubt that the toss plays a part. Batting second is easier, but that’s not the reason India thumped us tonight,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the dew factor that was the only difference between the two sides. We let ourselves down with the bat. We needed to post something a lot more competitive to put India under pressure. We left a lot of runs out there this evening.”
South Africa started the series without Kagiso Rabada and then lost Nandre Burger for the final match, which made it more challenging for them to manage the scoring rate and pick up wickets. Marco Jansen’s four wickets were the most by any South African bowler in the series less than half of Kuldeep Yadav’s nine, though Kuldeep operates in a different role. Their lead spinner, Keshav Maharaj, played two games and managed just one wicket, but his economy rate of 5.70 was still the best among their bowlers.
What South Africa missed was a seamer who could maintain control the way Arshdeep Singh did for India. He kept the run rate to 5.5 an over and picked up five wickets. “With the ball they’ve been a lot more disciplined than we’ve been throughout the series. You only need to look at the wide count,” Conrad said.
Across the three games, South Africa bowled 47 wides compared to India’s 21, highlighting their lack of control. It also denied them the chance to complete a memorable double, which would have been a big boost for Conrad. “We had a chance to do something really special. I think the last time India lost both a Test and ODI series at home goes back to the 1990s,” Conrad said. “So we missed out on that opportunity. But they’re a world-class side with world-class players. And when Rohit’s in the type of form, and Virat, especially, is in the type of form that he’s in, you cannot afford to be off your game.”
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