‘D’ Magic

South African blitzkrieg at Wankhede made the mockery of the Indian bowling attack here on Sunday. What could just save merely the Indians from being at the receiving end of this annihilation was the intense humidity of Mumbai. The Proteas top order came into bat with all guns blazing thrashing the bleak Indian attack all around the park. The 22 year old Quinton De Kock simply loves batting against India which is quite evident from the fact that out of the nine games that he has played against the same opposition, he has scored five centuries. It seems that this wicketkeeper-batsman simply relishes batting against the India. De Kock scored 109 runs giving a perfect start to SA in this decider match. The series being evenly poised at 2-2, AB De Villiers wouldn’t have asked for a better start having won the toss and elected to bat first.

Though the Proteas lost Hashim Amla (23) cheaply, there was no looking back, as Faf Du Plessis was brutally hitting the Indian bowlers. The spectators could not take their eyes of the game as both De Kock and Du Plessis were finding the odd boundaries and sixes at regular intervals. After scoring a valiant 133, Du Plessis succumbed to the scorching heat and tremendous humidity of Mumbai, having returned to the pavilion as retired hurt.

The SA dressing room applauded the magnificent efforts of Du Plessis and hoped to see their skipper carry on the mantle from there. It is one in a million times that AB De Villiers disappoints the crowd and his team. Sunday evening belonged to De Villiers as he did not put a single foot wrong. Known to be one of the crafty batsmen in international cricket, ABD not only played with a straight bat but also showed his talent by playing some innovative shots. Having smacked the ball over the fence for 11 times in his innings of 119, De Villiers created yet another record of being the only captain to hit over 10 sixes in an innings twice.

The ‘D’ magic was a nightmare for the Indian bowlers. The Wankhede wicket which is essentially known to be spin-friendly offered no help to the spin trio of Axar Patel, Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh. Among them they bowled 28 overs conceding a mammoth sum of 213 runs and picking up just a single wicket. Though Amit Mishra created a few chances, the Indian fielders had butter fingers which didn’t help them to hold on to their catches.

All in all the Sunday final was the Proteas game equaling their highest total of 438 runs. They had registered the same total in their own backyard against the might Aussies as well. The Proteas batted, bowled and fielded well and deserved to win their first ever bilateral series against India.