India vs South Africa 2015 4th ODI: Player Ratings

Virat Kohli’s 23rd ODI hundred helped India level the series 2-2 at Chennai

In a game that they needed to win to keep the series alive, India came up with goods emerging on top by 35 runs. A match which saw brilliantly made hundreds by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, also saw some outstanding bowling from the South African faster bowlers in the death overs while the Indian spinners made good use of the turning surface to turn the match in India’s favour after Quinton de Kock after the visitors had made a good start.

De Villiers failed to find the support that was needed from his teammates as his hundred went in vain, which means the fifth ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will not turn out to be the series decider.

Here’s a look at the player ratings for this amazing encounter between the two highly-matched sides. All players are rated through a maximum of 10 points.

India

Rohit Sharma: 5

The opener who scored a well made 67 during the previous match at Rajkot got off to a quick start, scoring a quick fire 21 before falling to Chris Morris playing an uppish shot.

Shikhar Dhawan: 2

Dhawan’s awful run of form in this series continued as he failed to even get to double figures falling while trying to work a quick bouncer off his hips and was brilliantly caught by De Kock.

Virat Kohli: 9

Kohli continued his form from the last match where he had scored 77. That knock went in vain as India lost by 18 runs at Rajkot. However, his knock of 138 helped India win the match at Chennai and he deservedly picked up the Man of the Match award. He was also a part of two 100-run stands, first with Rahane and then Raina.

Ajinkya Rahane: 7

Rahane played a huge role along with Kohli in resurrecting India’s innings adding 104 runs for the third wicket, before falling six runs short of his fifty.

Suresh Raina: 8

Raina came into his own by scoring a fifty after a string of dismal performances where he had scored just three runs in the previous three games.

MS Dhoni: 4

Dhoni had the onus on him to take the team past 300 after the foundation laid by Kohli, but the South Africans found a chink in Dhoni’s armor by peppering him with short balls and Dhoni finally fell to Steyn without causing much damage.

Axar Patel: 5

Patel didn’t do much with the bat but helped India defend the target with his wily bowling finishing with figures of 1 for 40.

Harbhajan Singh: 6

Bhajji showed why he is considered one of the best spinners India have by picking up 2 wickets to be the pick off the Indian bowlers.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar: 6

Kumar struggled with his bowling early on and proved costly by giving away a load of runs, but picked up the crucial wicket of De Villiers and ended up with 3 wickets.

Mohit Sharma: 5

The best pace bowler on the day with an economy of under 5 which helped India claim the second win of the series.

Amit Mishra: 6

Mishra started off brilliantly outfoxing batsmen with ease and picked up the prized wicket of Behardien just when he and De Villiers were starting to build a partnership.

South Africa

Quinton de Kock: 6

Centurion in the last game, De Kock came out strong in this game as well before just falling short off his fifty. He also arguably took the catch of the series so far flying to his left to pull off a stunning catch to get Dhawan out.

Hashim Amla: 3

Amla who has also had an extremely bad series like Dhawan fell cheaply for just 7.

Faf du Plessis: 4

The onus was on Du Plessis to take South Africa home along with De Villiers but ended up losing his wicket to Patel being caught behind by Dhoni.

AB de Villiers: 9

Put up a true one man show by scoring a century to take his team out of the dumps, but fell at 117 while he ran out of partners at the other end.

David Miller: 3

Didn’t capitalize on the situation when he had to help his team along with AB falling cheaply for just 6.

Farhan Behardien: 4

The last recognized batsman for the South Africans in this game played a loose shot and was adjudged leg before wicket to Amit Mishra.

Chris Morris: 4

Though he provided the initial breakthrough, Morris was costly with the ball and also didn’t do much with the bat to help South Africa’s cause.

Aaron Phangiso: 3

Phangiso did not find any success with the ball but was handy with the bat scoring a 20.

Dale Steyn: 6

Steyn, who has been having a below-par series picked up three wickets and bowled impressively in the death overs.

Kagiso Rabada: 6

Rabada who has been a find for South Africa in the past few months came up with a brilliant performance yet again picking up 3 wickets at an economy of 5.40.

Imran Tahir: 3

Tahir was not his own as he failed to pick up any wickets and was also hit for runs finishing with figures of none for 58.