South Africa vs India 2018, 1st ODI: Hits and Misses

#1 Hit: Indian leg-spinning duo

Both Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav hit the ground running in the first ODI

The spin-bowling duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav has truly made a terrific statement for themselves in India’s limited-overs squad since the last four to five months. Both the wrist-spinners have bowled well consistently and have managed to take the place of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the playing XI, for now at least.

They bowled in tandem on Thursday and their combined effort was the main reason behind the failure of the South African batting order to score big on the day. In the 20 overs that they bowled, they picked up five wickets between them and gave away just 79 runs while doing so.

While Chahal dismissed De Kock and Aiden Markram with his intelligent bowling, Yadav scalped the wickets of the entire South African lower middle-order. The hard-hitting trio JP Duminy, David Miller and Chris Morris were sent back to the hut by India’s Chinaman bowler.

Both the spinners bowled exceedingly well and their exertion proved to be crucial in restricting the hosts to a target less than 280.