5 Talking Points from India South Africa 4th ODI: Legends stamp their class, India's long tail and Dhoni's gift to Kohli

Virat Kohli’s 23rd ODI century, combined with an outstanding bowling effort by the spinners, helped India equalise the 5-match ODI series 2-2 with a win over South Africa at Chennai on Thursday. The 5-match series has rightfully gone down to the wire, with the winner to be decided after the 5th ODI in Mumbai on Sunday.Chasing the target of 300 set by the hosts, AB De Villiers single-handedly brought the Proteas close to the total with a knock of 112 but in the end it was not enough as the visitors fell short by 35 runs. The game-changing moments and the most talked-about issues in the match.

#1 Kohli\'s \'tribute to Sehwag\'

Virat Kohli was finally dismissed by Kagiso Rabada after a marathon knock in the Chennai humidity

A really long innings has been coming for a while from Virat Kohli, and with his 140-ball 138 in Chennai, the signs are that his drought of runs in ODIs in 2015 is well and truly over – the floodgates have opened. After 12 innings without a fifty, Kohli has been India’s highest scorer for two consecutive matches.

Kohli came in to bat with the score reading 35/2 after 8 overs, earning a return to his favoured No.3 spot with his success in the last match. He played some glorious shots in his knock, and went from strength to strength even as he kept losing his partners.

He brought up his 23rd ODI ton, his first against South Africa, in 110 balls. He gave charge after his century, but the heat and humidity got to him, and he could be seen only dealing in singles towards the end. He was also struggling with cramps – so much so that he did not come out to field in the 2nd innings.

He brought up his century with a six, perhaps in a tribute to the ways of Virender Sehwag, the last swashbuckling batsman to have played for India. He then took off his helmet and celebrated in emphatic fashion – perhaps a release of the immense pressure he has been under to score big for a long time.

Kohli was not part of the Indian fielding unit in the second half of the match – having been advised rest. It was heartwarming to see Dhoni, who usually takes a stump from matches which are special to him, taking a stump and giving it to Kohli, without whose mammoth knock the win would not have been possible.

#2 India\'s long tail

Kagiso Rabada’s death overs bowling, under pressure, has been one of the revelations of this series

The slightly troubling statistics for India from the 4^th ODI is this – despite being set up for a big 300+ total around the 45-over mark, only 18 runs were added in the last 4 overs. After Kohli’s wicket, there was a mini-collapse from the lower order.

Disturbingly, death over batting woes haunted India in the previous ODI as well, when the final charge in overs 40-50 never came, gifting the match to the South Africans.

It has been a long time since the Indian tail began from No.7. With the World T20 in mind, the management can perhaps think of replacing one of the India spinners with somebody who can add more to the team’s batting armoury – Gurkeerat Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, or even Yuvraj Singh.

Another interesting statistics in this regard is that since the change of rules about fielders outside the circle in the last 10 overs, the average score in that period in ODIs has come down from 90/3 to 80/3. Maybe the days of mad slogging in the last overs are over.

#3 Spin is king in Chennai

Harbhajan Singh put up his hand to lead the spin attack in Ashwin’s absence

India were without their best spinner Ravi Ashwin, but what decidedly tilted the match in their favour was that the South African batsmen could not deal with the spin of the Chepauk track. All three of Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel and Amit Mishra picked one wicket each, beat the bat a lot of times, and generally put the batsmen in hot soup.

The kind of bowling produced by Harbhajan Singh, especially in his first spell, was reminiscent of his prime. He removed the dangerous De Kock for 43, and followed it up immediately by scalping David Miller – exposing the lower order with a lot of work to be done.

The Proteas scored 63 runs for the loss of a single wicket in the first 10 overs, but could only add 32 in the next 10 overs with the loss of 3 more wickets – pegged back by Harbhajan and Axar.

Interestingly, Harbhajan has the most economical figures in ODIs for India in 2015 – the second best being Ravi Ashwin.

#4 ABD falls just short

AB de Villiers reaches his century – he was dismissed soon after

AB de Villiers, for the most part of the 2^nd innings, looked likely to take his team to an incredible victory. Batting at a different level from all his teammates who were being flummoxed by the nature of the track, De Villiers entertained as he swiped and swatted at everything thrown at him.

However, just as he was launching into the final part of his assault, with a little more than 60 required in 6 overs, a Bhuvneshwar Kumar bouncer got an edge off his bat to travel to the keeper. The ABD show was over, and Indians could breathe easily again.

He scored 112 off 107 balls, also bringing up his century with a six – the second great batsman to reach the personal milestone in this fashion in the match.

The chase fell apart after his departure. Had he, however, taken his team over the line in this match, this knock would easily have been recognised as one of his best ever.

South Africa were also without the services of two of their first-team players in JP Duminy and Morne Morkel, something that affected them adversely as well.

#5 Heat on Amla, Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan disappointed in Chennai too

Two highly touted batsmen yet to have made a mark in this series are openers Hashim Amla and Shikhar Dhawan – both of whom have coincidentally managed a total of 66 runs in this ODI series as yet.

Amla, often considered to be the visiting team’s best batsman after AB de Villiers, fell for a tentative 7 in Chennai. The pressure is on him, as it is on Dhawan, to come up with a match winning knock in the all-deciding 5^th ODI at Wankhede on Sunday.

Dhawan also looked unsure in his short stay in the India innings, managing only to score a similar 7.