Dhoni was forced to bring on Axar Patel and Harbhajan Singh early on in the innings due to the wayward bowling of pacers Bhuvneshvar Kumar and Umesh Yadav at the start of the Proteas innings
Operating in tandem, not only did the spinners put a brake on the run flow, they even kept picking wickets at regular intervals.
South Africa chose to play conventional cricket: less enterprising, more accumulating. Du Plessis and JP Duminy took the score past 134, the inevitability of a South African come back was just about to repeat itself. Duminy and du Plessis didn’t sweat much since Umesh Yadav was generously spending runs on them. South Africa seemed to be heading towards the victory line.
Patel proved why Dhoni is insisting spin is India’s strength. Within seven runs Patel sent both ominous looking Duminy and du Plessis duo back to the pavilion. Spurred on by the twist in the plot, Bhuvneshawar Kumar exploited David Miller’s poor form. Soon Virat Kohli made for his disappointment in the run out mix-up earlier in the day by pulling off a spectacular catch to send dangerous de Villiers back. Details