Gqeberha, Dec 19: Opener Tony de Zorzi slammed a magnificent maiden hundred to complement a superlative effort by his team’s bowlers, led by pacer Nandre Burger, as South Africa humbled India by eight wickets in the second ODI to level the three-match series 1-1 here on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old de Zorzi, playing only his fourth ODI, smashed nine fours and six maximums during his counter-attacking 122-ball 119 not out as South Africa completed the 212-run chase with 7.3 overs to spare.
Put in to bat, opener B Sai Sudharsan and skipper KL Rahul made well-compiled fifties but once they were gone, India stumbled their way to 211 all out in 46.2 overs.
On a track offering pace and bounce, Burger (3/30 in 10 overs) bowled his heart out to snap three crucial wickets, while Beuran Hendricks (2/34 in 9.2 overs) and Keshav Maharaj (2/51 in 10 overs) claimed two each.
Defending the below-par total, India needed early wickets but they failed to make any breakthrough as openers de Zorzi and Reeza Hendricks (52) set the platform for the chase with a commanding 130-run stand.
Once Reeza was out, de Zorzi and Rassie van der Dussen (36) added 76 off 83 to take SA to just six short of a victory.
The left-handed de Zorzi then knocked off the winning runs with a six as the hosts reached 215 for 2 in 42.3 overs. They recovered from their eight-wicket hammering in Johannesburg to keep the series alive.
Chasing 212, Hendricks held on to one end, while de Zorzi played his shots as the two batters didn’t give much chance to the Indians despite pace duo of Arshdeep Singh (1/28) and Mukesh Kumar (0/46) bowling a good spell in the powerplay.
The only chance that went abegging was when Ruturaj Gaikwad failed to hold a catch of Hendricks off Mukesh in the 5th over.
De Zorzi reached his fifty in the 18th over before completing the century off 109 balls. Reeza, on the other hand, took 71 balls to reach his half century with the help of seven fours.
Arshdeep got rid of Reeza in the 28th over, while Rinku Singh claimed van der Dussen’s wicket when SA were just six runs short. (PTI)
