Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers hit centuries as South Africa made an awesome 438-4 in the series-deciding fifth one-day international against India on Sunday. Left-handed opener de Kock hit 109, de Villiers notched 119 and du Plessis smashed 133 to put the Proteas in a near-impregnable position after they chose to bat at a sweltering Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. De Kock was first to take advantage of a favourable pitch and some woeful Indian bowling to notch his eighth one-day century and his second of the series off 87 balls.
The 22-year-old put together a formidable partnership with du Plessis, who came on after Hashim Amla was caught for 23, as the batsmen combined for a second-wicket stand of 154 runs. De Kock reached 50 with a risky single in the 13th over and then survived a scare moments later when Mohit Sharma fumbled a catch after misjudging the flight of the ball. He reached 100 off 78 balls in the 35-degree-Celsius heat but was made to walk when he was caught by Virat Kohli near the boundary off Suresh Raina.
De Kock's ton, which included one six and 17 fours, came after he scored 103 in the third ODI in Rajkot. His dismissal failed to faze du Plessis, who then combined with captain AB de Villiers to make the most of a lacklustre and extremely generous Indian bowling display during the day-night match.
Right-hander du Plessis and his skipper took it in turns to smash sixes all over the ground. Du Plessis hit six sixes and nine fours, even reaching a couple of boundaries while hobbling on one leg, and could have had many more if he had not been forced to retire with cramp. De Villiers, aged 31, was a man on a mission, racing to 119 off only 61 balls. He hit three fours and an astonishing 11 sixes before being caught behind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
David Miller was 22 not out while Farhaan Behardien scored 16. India's bowling figures made grim reading, with Kumar giving away 106 runs for just one wicket and Sharma conceding 84 for his one.
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Teams:
India: MS Dhoni (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, , Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma and Amit Mishra.
South Africa: A.B. de Villiers (captain), Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Farhaan Behardien, David Miller, Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir and Kyle Abbott.
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