Durban: Quinton de Kock (106) and Hashim Amla (100) scored scintillating centuries while Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe rattled through the Indian batting line-up to give South Africa 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series as the Proteas beat India in the second ODI by a huge margin of 134 runs here on Sunday.
After piling 280 for six in the allotted 49 overs, the hosts bundled out India for 146 in 35.1 overs. Suresh Raina (36) was the only batsman to show a bit of resistance, even as the rest surrendered meekly.
Chasing the target, the Indian top failed to put any resistance against the likes of Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who shared seven wickets between them.
Earlier, de Kock and Amla shared an opening stand worth 194 runs. Amla, in the process, crossed the 4000-run mark in ODI, the quickest to do so in 81 matches and beating Sir Vivian Richards' marker of 88 ODIs.
Later, Steyn bowled with great pace and sent Shikhar Dhawan back to the pavilion in the very second over for a duck. Thereafter Tsotsobe took the wicket of in-form Virat Kohli who too failed to disturb the Indian scoreboard.
Ajinkya Rahane, who had come into the side for Yuvraj Singh, and Rohit Sharma did try to rebuild the innings but the partnership didn't last long as Rohit (19) pulled Tsotsobe only for Amla to take a stunning catch at short mid-wicket. Thereafter Rahane (8) too left after six deliveries, chasing a wide delivery off Morkel and getting a faint edge.
Skipper MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina put together 40 runs, when Vernon Philander induced a thick outside edge from Dhoni and de Kock pulled off a stunning catch going to his right. Dhoni was gone for 19 runs off 31 deliveries. Raina (36) continued to fight back but once he was dismissed off another brilliant catch by Miller off Morne Morkel, the match was all but over.
Tsotsobe finished with 4-25 from 7.1 overs, while Steyn snapped 3-17. Morkel (2-34) and Philander (1-20) were the other wicket-takers.
