1st ODI: South Africa beat India by 9 runs

LUCKNOW: Below-par death bowling coupled with ordinary fielding and batting, except for Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer, hurt a second-string Indian team as it slumped to a nine-run defeat against South Africa in the rain-truncated first ODI of the three-match series here on Thursday.

Opting to bowl in the rain-hit 40-over-a-side game, India started on the right note reducing South Africa to 110 for 4 in 22.4 overs before David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen hit strokeful half-centuries to guide South Africa to 249 for 4.

Down at 110 for four, Miller (75 not out off 63 balls) and Klaasen (74 not out off 65 balls) added 139 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket to take the visitor to close to 250-run mark.

Shardul Thakur was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 2/35 from eight overs.

The Indian bowlers struggled in the death overs, conceding 54 runs in the last five overs.

If that was not enough, the Indian fielders dropped as many as four catches in the outfield to help South Africa’s cause.

Chasing a stiff target of 250, Samson (86 not out off 63 balls) and Iyer (50 off 37 balls) struck fifties, while Shardul Thakur (33 off 31 balls) used the long handle to good effect towards the end but it was not enough in the end.

India endured a disastrous start to its chase, losing both Shubman Gill (3) and skipper Shikhar Dhawan (4) cheaply to be reduced to 8 for 2 inside six overs.

While Kagiso Rabada cleaned up Gill in the third over, Dhawan inside-edged one on to his stumps from a Wayne Parnell delivery in the sixth over.

Earlier sent into bat, South Africa made a relatively slow start, reaching 41 for no loss after 10 overs.

Miller and Klaasen then took the attack to the opposition. Miller played sensibly and dispatched the loose balls to the boundary to record his 18th half-century off 50 balls with the help of four boundaries and one hit over the fence.

Klaasen soon followed suit and registered his fourth ODI fifty in 52 balls. Miller and Klaasen brought up their century partnership in just 84 balls.

BRIEF SCORES: South Africa 249/4 in 40 overs (D Miller 75*, H Klaasen 74*, Q de Kock 48) bt India 240/8 in 40 overs (S Samson 86*, S Iyer 50, L Ngidi 3/52)