India Won by 2 Wickets against South Africa

India defeated South Africa by 2 wickets in the third One Day International(ODI) to go 2-1 up in the series.

Chasing a target of 221 runs for victory, India scored 223 runs for the loss of 8 wickets with tail enders Harbhajan Singh and Asish Nehra snatching the victory, which seemed to have eluded them after all recognised batsmen went back to the pavilion.

Yusuf Pathan,who played a steller role in pushing the Indian innings ahead from 93 at the loss of five wickets, was the top scorer for the Indians with 59 runs.

Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma opened the batting in the absence of regular openers Gautam Gambhir and Sehwag on Tuesday.

Murali (1) failed to contribute with his bat once again while Sharma got out at a personal score of 23 runs.

Kohli (28), Yuvraj (16), Dhoni (5), got out quickly making things quite tough for the Indians.

Yusuf Pathan, then played a gem of an innings to twist the match in India’s favour, hitting 6 boundaries and 3 over boundaries in his innings.

Raina (37), Harbhajan Singh (23*) and Zaheer Khan (14) also played well to ensure India another victory in the South African soil.

Morne Morkel was the pick of th South African bowlers as he claimed three scalps by giving away only 28 runs in his 10 overs.

Earlier, South Africa had scored 220 runs for the loss of 10 wickets, with Faf du Plessis scoring the highest score of 60 runs.

Indian bowlers continued their good form in this match as well with all of them maintaining a disciplined line and length.

Zaheer picked up 3 wickets while Harbhajan and Patel shared 2 each.

Pathan was declared the player of the match at the end of the game for his well crafted innings at the crucial point.