#Ghost win 7 series#

His first scalp of the day was Andile Phehlukwayo, who failed to read the googly and bottom-edged the ball on to the stumps. Yadav helped himself to flattering figures of 4.1-1-18-4 to earn the Man of the Match award. Then the spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Shabhaz Ahmed and Sundar took over to run through the visitors’ batting line-up. Siraj then hurried Reeza Hendricks, who could only guide the rising ball into Ravi Bishnoi’s hands at short fine leg.

Janneman Malan followed suit with a mistimed pull to the deep square leg fielder off a Mohammed Siraj delivery. A streaky top-edged boundary was followed by the slash safely into Khan’s hands two balls later. He was beaten by a spinning delivery at the start of the third over. De Kock had also looked unsettled in the first over bowled by Sundar. Seasoned opener Quinton de Kock slashed a wide delivery from Washington Sundar straight to Avesh Khan at short third man. Their old problems against spin came back to haunt the South Africans again. While they would be heartbroken with the result, South Africa only have themselves to blame, especially their batting unit, for the losses. Had they won the series, the 10 ranking points would have taken them to ninth in the list, giving them some hope. They were placed 11th in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League rankings. South Africa came to India having only won four out of their 13 ODI matches. However, back-to-back losses in Ranchi and here have virtually ended the Proteas’ hopes of directly qualifying for the World Cup.

#Ghost win 7 series#

The series started with a promising nine-run win in Lucknow. A 3-0 series win over a second-string India would have boosted their rankings.

Having pulled out of their series against Australia earlier this year, South Africa had forfeited the available ranking points. This was a gut-wrenching loss for South Africa, who came to India desperate for ranking points to avoid playing in the qualifying tournament for next year’s World Cup, to be held in India. The Shikhar Dhawan-led side then completed the formalities in 19.1 overs with a six from Shreyas Iyer, completing a seven-wicket win and a 2-1 series victory. Their previous lowest against India was 117, recorded back in 1999. It was South Africa’s fourth-lowest total, and their lowest ever against India, in ODIs. Asked to bat first, the visitors were bowled out for 99 in 27.1 overs. However, South Africa's batting capitulation meant the match lasted just over 46 overs. While the start of the match was delayed by half-an-hour, there were no further disruptions. The national capital had witnessed continuous rain in the last three days and there was a chance that the weather gods might interrupt the match today. The third and final ODI match between hosts India and South Africa was in danger of being a rain-truncated match.