Markram’s century eclipses Kohli’s 53rd ODI ton and Gaikwad’s first as SA level series 1-1

Yet another brilliant century from Virat Kohli and a maiden ODI ton by Ruturaj Gaikwad went in vain as South Africa defeated India by 4 wickets, chasing a target of 359, to level the three-match series 1-1 in Raipur.

Aiden Markram scored 110 while half-centuries from Matthew Breetzke (68) and Dewald Brevis (54) aided the chase after India posted 358/5. Corbin Bosch (29) and Keshav Maharaj (10) were unbeaten to guide the visitors to victory with four balls to spare.

India had won the series opener at Ranchi by 17 runs after posting 349/8. The series will be decided at Visakhapatnam on Saturday. Having lost the two-match Test series 2-0, India will want to avoid a home ODI series defeat as well.

Earlier, Kohli proved Dale Steyn's assessment about his insatiable appetite for runs even at 38 by scoring a solid 102 off 93, which was his 53rd ton in ODIs. Such was the man's competitiveness that he punched his bat in anger after mistiming a lofted straight drive, to gift Markram an easy catch at long-on.

Kohli had scored a fine 135 in the first ODI in Ranchi. Kohli began by pulling Lungi Ngidi for a six, but he only hit one more in the whole innings. Kohli played the perfect partner to Gaikwad, who made 105 off 83.

Rohit Sharma, the other senior campaigner, could not make another fifty in the series and fell for 14. The opener had hit Nandre Burger for a hat-trick of boundaries before getting caught behind.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (22) survived a Keshav Maharaj over shortly after the powerplay but was beaten for pace by Jansen the next over.

Brief scores: India 358/5 in 50 overs (Gaikwad 105, Kohli 102, Rahul 66 not out, Jansen 2/63) lost to SA 362/6 in 49.2 overs (Aiden Markram 110, Breetzke 68, Brevis 54, Bavuma 46, Arshdeep Singh 2/54)