Ishan Kishan’s career-best 93 and Shreyas Iyer’s second ODI century set India up for a series-leveling win on a slow, dry pitch in Ranchi. The pair shared a 161-run stand – the second-highest third-wicket partnership for India against South Africa – and aced a challenging chase. In the process, they completed the highest successful chase against South Africa since March 2017 and denied their visitors 10 points on the World Cup Super League table. South Africa remains in 11th place.
South Africa’s attack was unable to control India’s scoring rate and struggled with significant dew under lights after choosing to bat first. While Wayne Parnell and Kagiso Rabada made early inroads, Anrich Nortje and Aiden Markram could not find the right lengths, and Keshav Maharaj had a rare off day. Without Lungi Ngidi, who was swapped out of the XI for Nortje, South Africa did not have their best executor of the slower ball at their disposal. One look at India’s bowling card showed how much they missed that.