Centurion, Feb. 4 (IANS): India produced a dominant performance to thrash South Africa by nine wickets in the second One-Day International (ODI) at the SuperSport Park here on Sunday.
Opting to field first, the Indians rode on career-best figures from wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav to bundle out South Africa for a mere 118 runs.
This was the lowest ever ODI total at this venue. India now leads the six-match series 2-0.
Chahal returned figures of 5/22 while Yadav notched up 3/20 to justify India skipper Virat Kohli's decision to field first on winning the toss.
Fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bagged a wicket each.
Jean-Paul Duminy and Khaya Zondo were the highest scorers for the Proteas with 25 runs each.
Such was the domination of the Indian bowlers that only five South African batsmen managed to reach double figures.
South Africa were off to a slow start with Hashim Amla (23) and Quinton de Kock (20) producing an opening stand of 39 runs before the former nicked one from Bhuvneshwar to Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps.
The hosts then lost three wickets in quick succession as de Kock, Aiden Markram and David Miller were sent back in consecutive overs.
Chahal dismissed de Kock when the left-hander miscued an attempted pull off the last ball of the 13th over, only to find Hardik Pandya at deep square leg.
Markram played another poor shot off the opening ball of the very next over to hand Kuldeep his first wicket of the day.
Kuldeep dismissed David Miller later in the same over to leave the hosts struggling at 51/4.
With their entire top order back in the pavilion by the 14th over, the Proteas could never really recover from there.
Duminy and Zondo tried to steady the innings but both fell prey to Chahal who was proving to be unplayable at times.
The South African lower order could not put up much of a resistance as the hosts folded up their innings in just 32.2 overs.
In reply, Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan added 93 runs between them as the visitors romped to victory with 177 balls still to go.
Dhawan remained unbeaten on 51 runs off 56 balls while Kohli was not out on 46.
Pacer Kagiso Rabada's dismissal of opener Rohit Sharma in the fourth over was the only success the South African bowlers managed on the day.
Brief scores:
India: 119/1 in 20.3 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 51 n.o., Virat Kohli 46 n.o.) vs South Africa: 118 in 32.2 overs (Jean-Paul Duminy 25, Khaya Zondo 25; Yuzvendra Chahal 5/22, Kuldeep Yadav 3/20).
