South Africa vs New Zealand 2017: 3rd ODI, 5 Talking Points

Modified Feb 25, 2017 14:22 IST

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - FEBRUARY 25: Dwaine Pretorius of South Africa celebrates with David Miller after taking the wicket of Mitchell Santner of New Zealand during game three of the One Day International series between New Zealand and South Africa at Westpac Stadium on February 25, 2017 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images) — Pretorius produced a fantastic spell of seam bowling to trigger a collapse

#3 de Villiers getting into his groove

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - FEBRUARY 25: AB de Villiers of South Africa bats during game three of the One Day International series between New Zealand and South Africa at Westpac Stadium on February 25, 2017 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images) — de Villiers smacked a fabulous 85 to help South Africa post 271

The pulsating AB de Villiers hasn't displayed his best since his comeback after a long break from international cricket. But having asserted that his focus remains on ODI cricket, de Villiers needed to prove that he could be the force he was before injury struck him down.

Today, on a difficult wicket, with the Proteas in a spot of bother at 180/6, de Villiers took it upon himself to get the Proteas to a fighting total. The impeccable batsman stood out in an 84-run stand with Wayne Parnell as he led South Africa to 271, smashing an 80 ball 85 in the process. He also became the fastest to 9000 ODI runs, beating Sourav Ganguly.

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