Last Updated on 7 years by Charbel Coorey
Heading into this series, the battle between number one and two in the ODI world promised to be fascinating. However, India have pretty much swept the floor with South Africa, and with one game to play, India have confirmed themselves as the no.1 ODI team in the world.
Rohit Sharma found form which is a relief to himself and India, and wristspinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal continued their domination of South Africa. Despite India’s middle order still a cause for concern, team India were excellent as a whole, and here are six big stats from their series win:
Most wickets for an overseas spinner in South Africa…
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Most wickets by one spinner in a bilateral series in South Africa? No! Two!
Both Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav broke the previous record of 12 wickets, held by West Indies allrounder Keith Arthurton across seven ODIs in 1998/99. Between them, they have taken 30 wickets, with Kuldeep taking 16 and Yuzvendra 14.
Incredibly, the next best wicket taker in the series is Jasprit Bumrah with six. The two wristspinners will fight it out for leading wicket taker in the series in the final ODI.
India’s ninth straight series win…
India are one step closer to West Indies’ all-time record of most consecutive bilateral ODI series wins (14).
Since their 4-1 defeat in Australia in 2016, India have beaten Zimbabwe, New Zealand (twice), Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka (twice) and West Indies.
India’s maiden win in South Africa and South Africa’s third loss at home in an ODI series of 5+ matches.
Did you know?
India are the only team other than Australia to win an ODI series comprising of 5+ matches in South Africa. In 1996/97, Australia won 4-3, and then 5-1 in 2001-02. India have the chance to inflict South Africa’s equal worst home series loss in 5+ matches with a win in the 6th ODI. This is all part of India’s first ever ODI series win in South Africa – a fine effort by Virat Kohli’s men.
South Africa’s worst ever batting and bowling averages in a home bilateral ODI series…
South Africa have been absolutely dominated with bat and ball in this series.
With the bat, they have managed a measly 22.65 per wicket, and with the ball, they have given up 50.20 runs per wicket. These two statistics are their worst in their history when it comes to bilateral series at home.
Most wickets by spinners in any bilateral ODI series for India
Think the achievements for Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are over?
Think again!
Combining for 30 wickets, the pair achieved the record number of wickets for Indian spinners in a bilateral ODI series. The previous best was 27 against England at home way back in 2005/06.
What’s even more impressive is that this was achieved in away conditions. The next best haul for Indian spinners away from Asia (excl. Zimbabwe and West Indies) is 20 v Pakistan in Canada in 1996.
Virat Kohli – equal most bilateral ODI centuries in South Africa
Virat Kohli joined an exclusive list of players with three bilateral series hundreds in South Africa. David Warner, Kevin Pietersen and Joe Root are the other players.
Also, in the last ODI, Virat Kohli has the chance to go past Kevin Pietersen’s tally of 454 runs, which is currently the highest total by a visiting batsman in a bilateral ODI series in South Africa. He needs 36 runs.
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