Following the disgraceful Test series defeat, where they lost 0-2, the Indian cricket squad is all set to face South Africa in the first match of the three-match One Day International series which is going to start on the 30th of November.
The two teams will be having a completely different setup for the limited-overs match. The visitors are going to be very confident, as they have just secured an easy victory in the Test series. They also have an advantage over India in ODIs with a 51-40 tally.
The encounters between India and South Africa have been pretty high-scoring through the years, thus emphasizing the competitive nature and batting skills of the players. However, the top 5 ODI totals between these two countries were posted at least a decade ago.
5) India 331/7 – Sophia Gardens, Cardiff – 6th June 2013
This match was the first one of the 2013 Champions Trophy in England, and India, who were captained by MS Dhoni, eventually won it. This match also saw the beginning of Rohit Sharma’s regular batting at the top and he came in and scored a nice 65-run knock. Dhawan scored 114 and had a 127-run partnership with Rohit.
Ravindra Jadeja’s 29-ball 47 at the death was very important for India to go past 330. South Africa fought hard with fifties from Ryan McLaren, AB de Villiers, and Robin Peterson, but they were still 26 runs short.
4) South Africa 358/4 – New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg – 5th December 2013
In less than six months, South Africa took their revenge by scoring a gigantic 358/4 in the very first ODI of India’s tour to South Africa. The young Quinton de Kock made a superb 135 off 121 balls and he went on to score three consecutive centuries in the series. The Indian bowlers could not put a break to his aggressive batting and it was Virat Kohli who finally got him out in the 42nd over.
But, the harm was already done. The last stroke came from AB de Villiers and JP Duminy. Their partnership of 105 runs in just 46 balls made South Africa race easily beyond 350. The victory margin for the hosts was 141 runs.
3) South Africa 365/2 – Motera, Ahmedabad – 27th Feb 2010
South Africa showed an extraordinary dominance in their performance with the help of four batters scoring fifties at least. They started off greatly with the openers Loots Bosman (68) and Hasim Amla (87) putting on 113 runs in 15.4 overs. After Bosman was out, Jacques Kallis came in to Amla, and soon their partnership raised the score to 192.
The batting of AB de Villiers was called for, and his 59-ball 102, along with Kallis’ 104, lifted South Africa to a massive total of 365/2. India put up a fight, thanks to a half-century by Kohli. But in the end, the hosts lost by a run difference of 90.
2) India 401/3 – The Captain Roop Singh Stadium, Gwalior – 24th Feb 2010
The match went down in history as India’s only 400-plus score against South Africa. It became a day to remember for Sachin Tendulkar, who was the first man cricketer to pass the 200-run mark in ODIs. Tendulkar was not out at 200 with 25 fours and 3 sixes.
The Indian innings was well laid out with the fortifying fifties from Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni, which were also the reason for India to keep the momentum going all along the innings and create a tough target for South Africa to chase. The home team’s reply was a de Villiers hundred who was however unable to get anyone from the other end bowling-wise, thus South Africa was all out for 248 in the 43rd over.
1) South Africa 438/4 – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai – October 25, 2015
The very first position on the list is occupied by the enormous run made by South Africa, embellished with a century from AB de Villiers in the year 2015. The series having a draw of 2-2, went on a rampage the South African batters, exploiting a batter-friendly wicket over which the three players of the team scored the hundred runs.
Quinton de Kock began with 109, then came Faf du Plessis with 133 and finally de Villiers who finished with an incredible 119 off just 61 balls. The Indian bowlers were totally helpless, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar who in his 10 overs gave away 106 runs. The Indian batsmen also gave up very easily, they were all out in the 36th over with a score of 224 thus losing the match by 214 runs.
