South Africa captain Temba Bavuma led from the front as he scored a brilliant century to rebuild an innings that seemed like going nowhere at 68-3 in the 18th over of the match. Playing against India in the first of the three-match ODI series at Boland Park in Paarl, Bavuma got an early reprieve as a nick off his bat fell just short of wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant.
Making the most of it, he built a reassuring stand of 204 runs with Rassie van der Dussen which is still going on. Van der Dussen came to bat at a very troublesome juncture but started attacking from the word go, giving Bavuma the all-important time to redevelop his game. The two have stuck together since and on a slow and low wicket, have propelled the Proteas to a score in the proximity of 300 runs.
In his innings of 110* so far, the 31-year-old who hit only his second ODI hundred in this game has hit only eight fours and no six. On the other hand, the 32-year-old van der Dussen has scored his 100 off just 83 balls at a strike rate of 120 and it includes eight fours and two sixes as well. This is Rassie’s second ODI hundred in his 30th match.
At the time of writing this piece, the Proteas were 272-3 at the end of the 48th over.