South African captain, Faf du Plessis scored a terrific century against India in the opening match of the highly anticipated ODI series between the top two ranked teams in world cricket.
After losing the test series, team India will be looking to upstage the home team in the ODI format. The shoe is on the other foot this time around, as India is the number two side with South Africa being the number one side in ODI cricket.
Kohli and men will be hoping to avenge their test series loss with a dominant performance in the upcoming series.
They will no doubt take heart from their win in the final test match, as India will surely believe that they can beat the South Africans on their home turf.
The Men in Blue will were boosted with the news of AB de Villiers being ruled out of the first three ODIs against India.
The Durban pitch was expected to a beautiful batting track, with batsmen from both teams licking their chops.
After losing the toss, du Plessis decided to bat first as Kohli’s men tried to restrict the hosts to a small enough total.
Batting first, South Africa started off well as Amla and de Kock gave the Proteas a quick enough start,. But Kohli quickly turned to his spin duo, as Chahal and Yadav spun a web around the batsmen.
Kuldeep and Chahal picked up five wickets between each other, and gave only 79 runs in their allotted twenty overs.
But du Plessis was imperious, as he scored a brilliant 120 in 112 deliveries and held the inning together.
In the absence of AB de Villiers, Faf took on more responsibility and rose to the occasion. Faf was given great support by Chirs Morris, as the all-rounder scored 37 very important runs for his side.
Phehlukwayo also provided a good hand to his captain, as South Africa reached 269 in their fifty overs.
AB sent a message to his captain, as the injured South African genius was full of praise for Faf du Plessis.
The Proteas will definitely fancy their chances, as this total will not be easy for India to chase under lights.
