As South Africa beat India by 7 wickets in the second ODI at Paarl to take an unassailable lead of 2-0, let’s look at some relevant numbers.
Third consecutive series loss for India outside Asia:
As South Africa took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series, this is India’s third consecutive series loss outside Asia. In February 2020, New Zealand clean-swept India by 3-0, while in November-December 2020 Australia beat India by 2-1. In between India won a couple of series in Asia as they beat England by 2-1 in March 2021 while the second string side under Shikhar Dhawan beat Sri Lanka by 2-1 in July 2021.
Highest successful chase at Paarl:
288/3 (48.1 overs)- It’s the highest successful chase in 15 ODIs at Boland Park in Paarl. Previously South Africa chased down the target of 250 against Sri Lanka in 2001. In fact, previously the highest second-innings score at this ground was 265/8 which was scored by India in the first match of this series. In 15 ODIs here, teams have successfully chased down the target 6 times while teams batting first won 8 times and one match between India and Zimbabwe ended as a tie in 1997.
Deja-vu for Rahul Dravid:
When India travelled to South Africa under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid in 2006, they were whitewashed by 0-4 in ODIs (though Sehwag captained India in two games) and lost the test series by 1-2. So far the story is going in the same direction in this tour as well under him as a coach.
Rishabh Pant onslaught:
85(71) by Rishabh Pant is the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper batter in South Africa. Previously the record was held by Rahul Dravid who scored 77 against the proteas in the tri-series final at Durban 2001.
It’s Rishabh Pant’s 3rd fifty in the last 4 ODI games as he scored 77(40) and 78(62) in the home series against England last year.
Duck for Virat Kohli:
A rare failure for Virat Kohli in this format as he went for a duck. It was Kohli’s 14th duck in his 256-match ODI career. The last time he scored a duck, was against West Indies at Vizag in Dec 2019. However, he played only 14 ODI in this time period.
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