
India’s Arshdeep Singh ran riot on Sunday (Dec 17) at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg as he scalped five wickets to restrict South Africa to 116 in the first ODI. As a result of hisbrilliant bowling, he became the first Indian to take a five-for on South African soil in ODIs and scripted history. Arshdeep’s excellent bowling was supported by Avesh Khan whoended with four wickets. Courtesy of the excellent performance from the fast bowlers, India won the first ODI by eight wickets in just 16.4 overs and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Asked to bowl first, the 24-year-old was at his fluent best from his first over when he got the better of Reeza Hendricks (0). He followed it with Rassie van der Dussen’s wicket on the very next ball and was on a hat-trick as the Proteas batter returned without troubling the scorers. His exploits with the ball saw the hosts down to 3/2 in the second over as India stamped their authority in the contest.
The left-hand pacer later got the better of Tony de Zorzi (28), Heinrich Klaasen (6) and Andile Phehlukwayo (33) to complete his five-wicket haul. This was also Arshdeep’s first five-for at the international level as he continues his impressive run in the team.
Avesh was also in great touch and ended with figures of 27/4. Kuldeep Yadav got his solitary wicket in the form of Nandre Burger (7) as the hosts were bowled out in 27.3 overs in a one-sided contest.
India made an excellent start to the ODI series against South Africa as they registered a massive eight-wicket win against the hosts at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg as Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan scalped nine wickets between them and skittled out South Africa for116, their third-lowest ODI total against India. India reached the total in 16.2 overs as debutant Sai Sudharsan (unbeaten 55) and Shreyas Iyer (52) ended with fifties.