Johannesburg: The ODI series between India and South Africa has been a one-sided contest as Virat Kohli and his boys have overpowered the home side in the first three matches of the six-match ODI series.
The Proteas have been hit by injuries, with star players Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock ruled out of the remainder of the series.
The good news for South Africa ahead of their crucial fourth ODI is the return of their talismanic batsman AB de Villiers, but the current form of the other batsmen is a worrying sign for the home side.
For India, wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have caused maximum damage with the ball. Virat Kohli has been in scorching form scoring, two centuries in three matches so far.
Here's a look at how the series has panned out so far:
Virat Kohli’s red-hot form with the bat
Rohit Sharma has failed to fire, while Shikhar Dhawan has had a good start with the bat, but failed to convert the starts into big scores.
Once again the onus has been on Team India skipper Virat Kohli so far, who has led from the front and has done that with authority.
In the three games played in the series so far, he has scores of 112, 46 not out and 160 not out against the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Chris Morris and Imran Tahir.
In the third ODI, Kohli overpowered South African bowlers with amazing strokes as his unbeaten century (160 not out) helped India reach 303/6 in 50 overs.
The skipper has so far scored 318 runs in three matches. His 160 against South Africa is the highest score by any batsman in the three games played so far. With three more games to go, the Indian skipper will look to continue his form with the willow.
Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal spin web around South Africa batsmen
The Indian wrist spinners are currently one of the deadliest combinations in the world cricket. Batsmen have found it difficult to tackle them. Both the bowlers have been in fantastic form so far in their debut tour of South Africa. The duo have shared 21 wickets between them in the three matches played so far.
South Africa batting line-up has been completely dismantled by the two young spinners as the batsmen have failed to come up with a plan to tackle them. In spite of practicing with spinners ahead of the third ODI, the South African batsman once again failed to deal with the spin duo.
South Africa hit by injuries
Even before the start of ODI series, South Africa were hit by injuries, as star player AB de Villers was ruled out of the first three games. After the end of the first two games skipper Faf du Plessis (finger injury) and wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (wrist injury) also joined the list. With no experience in the middle order, the Indian spinners took full opportunity to rattle the batting line up in the first half of the series.
Hashim Amla’s failure with the bat
The South African opener has so far had a disastrous series. In the absence of senior batsmen like Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers, Amla was expected to lead the batting line-up, but he has failed to get going so far. The 34-year-old has so far scored just 40 runs in three matches. The failure to give a strong start at the top has put pressure on other batsmen in the side.
South Africa bowlers underperform
Not only has the batting been a failure, the South African bowling has also failed to click in the ODI series. Pacers Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris and spinner Imran Tahir have failed to trouble Indian batting line-up, which has led to their downfall. The bowling attack have so far picked up 10 wickets in the first three ODIs leaving the batting line-up to do all the hard work.
