India lose 4th ODI by 48 runs through D/L method

PORT ELIZABETH: India lost by 48 runs to South Africa in the rain-marred fourth ODI through Duckworth and Lewis (D/L) method to level the five-match series 2-2 here Friday.

Chasing South Africa's 265 for seven in 50 overs, India were 137 for six when rain suspended the play. On resumption, four overs were lost and match was reduced to 46 overs with a revised target of 260 runs.

But barely eight balls were bowled when skies opened again, with India at 142 for six. South Africa were then declared the winners by D/L method. For India, Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 87.

Rohit Sharma (1) failed yet again as an opener and Parthiv Patel (11) departed after making an impressive start but talented youngster Virat Kohli (20) was still holding the fort for India.India came into the match with a 2-1 lead and a successful chase will give them a historic series victory.

Both Patel, who was playing his first match of the series, and Kohli played some attacking shots at the start.Twice Patel sent ferocious Dale Steyn to the boundary ropes and Kohli took 10 runs from one Lonwabo Tsotobe over with two shots to the fence.

However, both the batsmen soon slowed down due to the slow nature of the track.

Paceman Lonwabo Tsotsobe took both the wickets for South Africa as he first had Sharma caught at backward point and then trapped Patel, who came in the side in place of injured Sachin Tendulkar.

Earlier, J P Duminy struck a defiant 71-run unbeaten knock to lead Proteas to a competitive 265 for seven.

Duminy came up with the fighting knock when the chips were down for the hosts and combined well with the lower-order batsmen to give the hosts a competitive total to defend after winning the toss and opting to bat.

Except for Hashim Amla (64), none of the top-order Proteas batsmen could convert good starts but it was not easy to score freely on the slow St George Park's track.

The hard work done by Duminy and his partners ensured that South Africa have enough runs on the board in the end and that India will have to work hard to score their first ever series-win in this country.

Apart from the good job done by India's part time bowlers, the three inexplicable run outs prevented South Africa from getting a better scorecard.

India's spinners did a decent job in the middle overs by checking the run flow and Yuvraj Singh (3/34) was quite effective as he took three wickets.Duminy came on to bat in the mid of the South African innings and batted till the last over as he shared two crucial partnerships with Johan Botha (44) and Robin Petersen (31).

Duminy's determination reflected in his 72-ball knock as he hit just two boundaries and a six, which came in the 50th over, and ran hard to anchor the hosts innings.

South Africa had lost five wickets at the score of 118 but Duminy and Botha dug in and steadied the rocking ship with their 70-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Yuvraj broke the stand by having Botha stumped but Petersen supported Duminy well and the duo added another crucial 60 runs for the seventh wicket.

Following is the scoreboard of the fourth one day international between India and South Africa here Friday:

South Africa:

Hashim Amla run out (Kohli/Dhoni) 64

Graeme Smith c Harbhajan Singh b Nehra 18

Morne van Wyk c Kohli b Yuvraj Singh 15

A.B. de Villiers c Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 3

J.P. Duminy not out 71

Faf du Plessis run out (Kohli/Dhoni) 1

Johan Botha st Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 44

Roben Peterson run out (Pathan/Harbhajan Singh) 31

Dale Steyn not out 4

Extras: (b 1, lb 1, w 10, nb 2) 14

Total: (for seven wickets in 50 overs) 265

Fall of wickets: 1-57 (Smith, 11.1 overs), 2-106 (van Wyk, 19.2), 3-111 (Amla, 20.3), 4-115 (de Villiers, 21.2), 5-118 (du Plessis, 22.5), 6-188 (Botha, 37.2), 7-242 (Peterson, 47.2)

Bowling:

Zaheer Khan 9 1 55 0

Munaf Patel 8 1 49 0

Ashish Nehra 6 0 27 1

Harbhajan Singh 10 0 61 0

Yuvraj Singh 8 0 34 3

Rohit Sharma 2 0 6 0

Suresh Raina 3 0 13 0

Yusuf Pathan 4 0 18 0

India:

Rohit Sharma c Duminy b Tsotsobe 1

Parthiv Patel lbw b Tsotsobe 11

Virat Kohli not out 87

Yuvraj Singh c Smith b Botha 12

Suresh Raina st de Villiers b Peterson 20

Mahendra Singh Dhoni c du Plessis b Peterson 2

Yusuf Pathan c de Villiers b Morkel 2

Harbhajan Singh not out 3

Extras: (lb-2, w-2) 4

Total: (for six wickets in 32.5 overs) 142

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Sharma, 1.3 overs), 2-32 (Patel, 9.4)), 3-49 (Yuvraj, 14.6), 4-112 (Raina, 26.5), 5-123 (Dhoni, 28.4), 6-128 (Pathan, 29.3)

Bowling:

Dale Steyn 4 0 15 0

Lonwabo Tsotsobe 6 1 25 2

Morne Morkel 6 1 13 1

Johan Botha 6.5 0 27 1

Robin Peterson 8 0 46 2

Faf du Plessis 1 0 5 0

Jean Paul Duminy 1 0 9 0

Toss: South Africa, chose to bat

Umpires: Johanes Cloete (South Africa) and Simon Taufel (Australia)

TV umpire: Brian Jerling (South Africa)

Match referee: Chris Broad (England)

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