Watch: Shardul Thakur cleans up skipper Temba Bavuma with a beauty in the first ODI

While the mainstream Indian team is on its way to Australia for the T20 World Cup, young Indian players are facing the mighty South African side in the ODI series. The Shikhar Dhawan-led team is playing the first of the three-match series at the  Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. 

The Men in Blue won the toss and decided to bowl first on a decent batting track. While South Africa made a good start, India responded strongly with a few excellent wickets. However, Shardul Thakur’s brilliant performance in getting rid of Temba Bavuma has received the most attention.

Thakur bowled a brilliant fuller delivery with some inward movement on the final ball of the 15th over. The batter attempted to push the ball, but there was a large gap between the bat and the pad. The ball then struck the middle stump, giving Thakur his second wicket of the game.

Here is Shardul Thakur’s brilliant delivery

Earlier in the match, Thakur picked the wicket of Janneman Malan to give India their first breakthrough. The batter had formed a decent partnership with Quinton de Kock to get the Proteas off to a good start. Before Malan was dismissed in the 13th over, the two had scored 49 runs together.

India then quickly picked up a few wickets to put the opposition under pressure. Spinners came into play after South Africa had lost two wickets. With a brilliant delivery, Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Aiden Markram, while Ravi Bishnoi dismissed well-set De Kock.

At the time of writing this article, South Africa has lost four wickets for a team score of 1137 in 27 overs. With scores of 22 and 21, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller are in the middle. The two will look to form a good partnership and get the team back in good shape.

India, on the other hand, will look to use the ball to assert its dominance over South Africa. They would want to restrict them to a small total.