India vs South Africa, 2018 ODI series: Marks out of 10 for Virat Kohli and co.

India registered their maiden ODI series victory in South Africa, winning the six-match series 1-5. Virat Kohli was adjudged Player of the Series for his stunning batting display: he scored 558 runs at a magnificent average of 186. Kuldeep Yadav picked the most wickets for a wrist-spinner in a bilateral series outside subcontinent. Let us rate each Indian player on a scale of 1 to 10.

Rohit Sharma 4/10 (170 runs at 28.3)

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Rohit Sharma’s highest ODI score in South Africa read 23 before the fifth ODI. One more failure and there were chances of Ajinkya Rahane replacing him at the top. But Rohit is reputed for taking everyone by surprise. He quashed the critics and scored his 17th hundred. He loses two points for running out Virat Kohli and Ajinkya before reaching the three-figure mark, although Rohit would not have made it to the other end had he agreed to take the quick singles.

Other than the 115-run knock, Rohit scored 50 runs in five matches.

Shikhar Dhawan 7/10 (323 at 64.6)

There is a reason Dhawan is the second-best ODI player in the team. Although his hundred at Johannesburg came in a losing cause, it were his innings that laid the solid foundation. However, Dhawan would have scored more had he not thrown away his wicket. That being said, that is how Dhawan plays. He cares very little about the field setting.

Virat Kohli 10/10 (558 runs at 186)

Kohli became the first player to score 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series, surpassing Rohit Sharma’s 491 runs. Kohli also surpassed AB de Villiers in the list of most ODI runs. He also became the fastest to 17,000 international runs; he was also the fastest to 15,000 and 16,000 runs.

In all Kohli scored three hundreds and a fifty.

Ajinkya Rahane 6/10 (140 runs at 35)

Barring the resolute 79 and supporting 34* in the first and last match respectively, Rahane did nothing of significance. He scored 11, 8, 8 in other three innings.

MS Dhoni 6/10 (69 runs at 34.5, and 4 catches and 2 stumpings)

Dhoni is yet to reach 10,000 ODI runs. He has been in the pursuit since the Sri Lanka series at home. But he attained another milestone: he became the fourth player to 400 dismissals in the format.

Dhoni, however, played an innings of substance in the Johannesburg ODI, the one India lost. He scored an unbeaten 42 when the other batters failed to get going in death overs.

Kedar Jadhav 3/10 (1 runs, 6 overs)

Jadhav batted only once and bowled twice in three matches. He was rested after the third ODI due to hamstring injury.

Shreyas Iyer 5/10 (48 at 24, one dropped catch, one stunning catch)

Iyer dropped a catch in the fifth ODI and took a stunning one in the next ODI. With the bat, Iyer was ordinary. He did upp the ante but could not continue longer. His inexperience was evident.

Hardik Pandya 5/10 (26 runs at 8, 4 wickets at 54)

Pandya bowled brilliantly in the fifth ODI, taking vital wickets of JP Duminy and AB de Villiers. But, that was that. Pandya miserably failed with the bat, especially when India needed him to go all guns blazing.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/10 (2 wickets at 100.5)

India perhaps would not have lost the fourth ODI had Kohli opted for Bhuvi instead of Chahal for the death overs, but you never know. However, Bhuvi had an ordinary series by his standards.

Jasprit Bumrah 7/10 (8 wickets at 20.8)

In a series that saw the spinners dominate, Bumrah did incredibly well to bag wickets. Be it with the new ball or in death overs, Bumrah was at his usual best with his array of variations.

Shardul Thakur 6/10 (4 wickets at 13)

India replaced Bhuvi with Shardul in the final ODI. The Mumbaikar did better than what Bhuvi did in five ODIs: he finished with figures of 4 for 52. It, however, would be unfair to judge him further given he played a solitary match.

Yuzvendra Chahal 7/10 (16 wickets at 16.37)

Chahal’s no-ball cost India the Johannesburg ODI. Maybe India would have lost anyway, but giving reprieve to a batsman of David Miller’s calibre is unforgivable. However, we cannot disregard the fact that Chahal bowled remarkably well in the series. The numbers are enough evidence to his stellar show.

Kuldeep Yadav 8/10 (17 wickets at 13.88)

Kuldeep took a wicket more than Chahal’s tally, although both were equally spectacular. On pacy South African wickets, the duo bowled slower through the air to set up the batsmen.