India's cricket icons Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag are known to voice their opinions on social media sites. On (February 16), both the legendary cricketers took to Twitter and congratulated Team India for their historic ODI series victory against South Africa in their own den.
Virat Kohli’s troops made the whole country proud by becoming the first Indian side to register a bilateral ODI series victory on South African soil. India beat South Africa by 8 wickets in the sixth and final ODI to clinch the series 5-1.
Sehwag started with a laudatory message, he wrote: “Parampara ,Pratishtha ,Anushaasan. Congratulations India on the 5-1 series victory. Brilliant effort from the spinners and wonderfully led from the front by Kohli.”
Parampara ,Pratishtha ,Anushaasan. Congratulations India on the 5-1 series victory. Brilliant effort from the spinners and wonderfully led from the front by Kohli. pic.twitter.com/jYQhLTIqI8
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 16, 2018
A bit later, the Master Blaster joined Viru in conveying a congratulatory message. “Remarkable innings by @imVkohli to get to his 35th ODI century. Congratulations #TeamIndia on winning an ODI series for the first time in South Africa. Great achievement #SAvIND,” Sachin wrote.
Remarkable innings by @imVkohli to get to his 35th ODI century. Congratulations #TeamIndia on winning an ODI series for the first time in South Africa. Great achievement ???????? #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/lwvazFwnww
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) February 16, 2018
During the course of the ODI series, South African batters have been found out against India’s wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal whereas their bowlers haven’t managed to hold back India’s top order.
The story remained pretty much the same in the sixth ODI as well. The Proteas batsmen lost the plot in the middle overs against Kuldeep and Chahal as the duo claimed 3 wickets between them to take their wickets tally to 33 in the series. The 26-year-old Shardul Thakur, who got a chance to play in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, did a reasonably good job to claim 4-wicket haul while the seasoned campaigner Jasprit Bumrah chipped in with 2 wickets. Owing to a collective bowling performance, India restricted South Africa to 204 in 46.5 overs.
In reply, the visitors didn’t experience the best of starts as they lost the centurion of the last match, Rohit Sharma for just 15. However, the Indian captain Virat Kohli was as determined as ever to help his team finish the series on a high note.
At first, Kohli forged a 61-run stand for the second wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (18 runs off 34 balls) before sealing the deal with an unbeaten 126-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane (34 off 50 balls). Virat remained unbeaten on 129 off 96 balls as the hosts chased down South Africa’s paltry target of 205 with 8 wickets in hand and 107 balls to spare.
India will now take on South Africa in a three-match T20 series from Sunday (February 18).
