South Africa vs India 2018: 6th ODI, 5 things we learnt from the match

Another lacklustre South African show saw India romp home by 8 wickets to win the six match ODI series 5-1. Winning the toss at Centurion, Kohli put South Africa in to bat and the hosts struggled immensely against the new ball, which sent back the openers. AB de Villiers and Khaya Zondo resurrected against the spinners before a Royal Challengers Bangalore face-off saw Yuzvendra Chahal clean up de Villiers with a flipper.

The innings never really kicked on from there although Zondo's half-century and a few lusty blows from Andile Phehlukwayo and Morne Morkel took them last 200. Rohit Sharma fell early in India's chase but a marauding Virat Kohli sunk his teeth deep into South Africa's pace battery, compiling yet another ton (his 35th in ODIs), but the result was all but decided in the first ten overs.

Here are the 5 things we learnt from the match.

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#5 Shardul Thakur impresses

Thakur came in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and made an instant impact

Replacing someone like Bhuvneshwar Kumar can be daunting, particularly for someone who has long awaited his turn from the sidelines. But good players grasp onto the rare opportunities and that is exactly what Shardul Thakur did at Centurion. Bhuvneshwar hasn't been at his best in ODIs and Thakur showed that he could fit in quite well into the limited-overs scheme of things with an impactful opening spell.

He was quick through the air, hit the deck hard, generated enough doubts in the minds of the batsmen and got his first wicket when Hashim Amla edged a bouncer down leg-side to MS Dhoni behind the stumps. Aiden Markram took on his short ball with conviction and slammed him over the mid-wicket boundary but fell in the same over as he looked to hit him over cover. He added two more wickets to finish with figures of 4/52.

#4 Markram can't latch onto his starts

The stand-in skipper failed to make a big score after getting another start

Life has been moving at quite a fast pace for Aiden Markram. He was just getting into the groove in Tests and in the ODIs as a player, when he was asked to fill in for Captain Faf du Plessis in the series, who was ruled out with injury.

Unlike his Test career, things have not gone Markram's way in the limited over formats and although he got the starts in the series, he was unable to capitalise on them.

In four of the six games, Markram has started off well only to throw it away later. Amidst the flurry of extravagant, good looking shots is a poor hoick or an uppish drive, waiting to send him back to pavilion. At Centurion, it was the drive off Thakur to cover that saw his downfall, which came after a blistering pull shot for six. Markram might want to make use of his starts better.

#3 Zondo shows how it's done against the spinners

Zondo put himself in contention for a middle-order slot

Khaya Zondo's selection was much criticised as he had a rather ordinary Momentum One Day Cup and his overall List A record made for poor viewing as well. But at Centurion, as South Africa lost their openers, Zondo combined with de Villiers and turned out to be the more dominating partner.

He sat on his back-foot, waited for the ball to come to him and read the spinners off the pitch. When Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal landed it short, Zondo latched onto it with disdain. He used his feet admirably well and manoeuvred the field with ease but just when the partnership was starting to worry the Indians, Chahal cleaned up de Villiers after which Zondo got stuck into a rut, although he did end up making a half-century.

#2 Virat Kohli blazes away but questions remain as to whether he needed to come in at 3

Kohli dug into Ngidi and Morkel early in the innings

With a paltry total to chase down, India lost Rohit Sharma early and just when we thought it was a good opportunity for someone like Shreyas Iyer to come in and show his mettle, Virat Kohli decided to stick to his batting order and walked out to face some mediocre, tired bowling from the Proteas.

He raced to 36 in 24 balls with the help of six hits to the fence and ensured that the chase was nothing but a bed of roses for the visitors. That soon turned into another ODI hundred in what has turned out to be a tiresome sight for the Proteas fans this month.

All said and done, it was bizarre that Kohli did not opt to give Iyer or Hardik Pandya more time with the bat, particularly since India had already won the series.

#1 Ruthless India push South Africa from precipice

Indian fans had to much to celebrate in South Africa

Spurred on by the immaculate wrist spinners, a relentless top three and injury concerns in the opposition camp, India nailed down a 5-1 series victory, their first in the country. South Africa seem to have little clue on how to stop the Indian juggernaut, as the visitors bruised them a little deeper as the series progressed.

With the dead rubber presenting South Africa an opportunity to regroup, they were contended by an unforgiving Kohli-led Indian unit who played with as much passion and enthusiasm as the first match of the series, further rubbing salt in South Africa's wounds.

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