Under-fire Mahendra Singh Dhoni marked his return to form with an unbeaten 92 as India recorded a 22-run victory over South Africa in the second cricket One-dayer to level the five-match series 1-1 here on Wednesday.
Electing to bat, Dhoni bailed India out of trouble with his 86-ball knock to take the team to 247 for nine. His bowlers then ended the visiting side's innings at 225 to record their first win on South Africa's current tour. Going through the toughest phase of his international career, Dhoni played a captain's knock and then made smart bowling changes to bundle out South Africa in 43.4 overs.
Axar Patel (3/39) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/41) shared six wickets between them, while Harbhajan Singh (2/51) scalped two in his comeback match.
The nudges, quick singles, shot-arm jabs, pulls, cuts, lofted shots over the bowlers' heads — all were on full display as Dhoni answered his critics with a knock that was decorated with seven boundaries and four sixes.
'Captain Cool' batted with the tail-enders with a calm head as India scored 82 runs off the last 10 overs to put on board a decent total, which at one stage looked impossible.
India were looking down the barrel at 165 for seven in the 40th over, but Dhoni found great support from Harbhajan Singh (22), with whom he added 56 runs.
Ajinkya Rahane yet again batted well, scoring a 63-ball 51 for his second consecutive half century.
For South Africa, Dale Steyn (3/49) picked up three wickets, while Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir scalped two apiece. South Africa started their chase on a quick note, stitching a run-a-ball 40-run partnership for the opening wicket between Hashim Amla (17) and Quinton de Kock (34).
De Kock was the aggressor of the two but was lucky as a diving Rohit Sharma spilled a tough chance off Umesh Yadav in the fourth over.
De Kock was going great guns with five boundaries when he fell for one too many, caught by Mohit Sharma at long-off off Harbhajan, leaving the Proteas at 52 for two inside the 10th over.
The fall of two quick wickets hardly bothered Faf du Plessis (51) and JP Duminy (36) as the duo batted with ease to keep the asking rate in control.
The duo brought up South Africa's 100 in 19.5 overs and shared 82 runs off 87 balls for the third wicket to keep the visitor's in the hunt.
But just when it seemed the match was going out of India's grasp, Axar picked up the wickets of Duminy and Du Plessis in consecutive overs to bring the hosts back in contention.
Patel trapped Duminy in front of the wicket and then dismissed Du Plessis in his next over, caught by Virat Kohli at covers.
Bhuvneshwar made it triple delight for India in the next over when he induced an edge from David Miller and Dhoni took a fine diving catch to reduce South Africa to 142 for five.
Farhaan Behardien kept South Africa in the game in the company of Steyn and Kagiso Rabada but Behardien got a dubious caught behind decision from umpire Vineet Kulkarni before Kumar polished off the tail with two wickets in the 44th over.
Earlier electing to bat, the hosts suffered a big setback in the form of Rohit Sharma, who was cleaned up by young paceman Kagiso Rabada the second over of the day.
Shikhar Dhawan (23) and Rahane then played cautiously to resurrect the Indian innings with a 56-run second wicket stand. With the two batsmen finding it difficult to get the boundaries after the early dismissal of Rohit, Dhawan finally broke the shackles with a splendid cover drive off Rabada in the fourth over.
In the last ball of the 18th over by Morkel, Rahane was dropped by a diving Farhaan Behardein at mid-off following which the batsmen take a single. Kohli wanted a second run and sprinted back but Rahane stood his ground at the non-striker's end holding his hand up in the air and in the process both the batsmen ended up at the same end and the bails were whipped off by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.
A livid Kohli had no option but to leave the ground distraught, paving the way for an under-pressure Dhoni to take control of the innings.
But after doing all the hard work, Rahane would be cursing himself as when India needed him to play a big innings, especially after the Kohli mix-up, he too threw away his wicket. He was bowled around the legs by leg-spinner Tahir in the 23rd over as the batsman went for the sweep shot.
Suresh Raina did not disturb the scorers. The left-hander completely looked at sea against Morkel during his brief five-ball stay and was eventually caught down the leg side by De Kock for a duck as India slumped to 105 for five in 23.4 overs.
10 held for black-marketing tickets
Ten persons have been arrested for allegedly black-marketing tickets of the One Day International match which was played on Wendesday between India and South Africa. Acting on a tip-off, the crime branch arrested 10 persons from different areas here for black-marketing tickets of the ODI in last 24 hours, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Vinayprakash Paul said.
He said that 40 tickets ranging from `300 to `3,000 were seized from the accused, who were selling them at much higher prices and making quick bucks.