JOHANNESBURG – Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan hit a century and upstaged his captain, Virat Kohli, in the fourth one-day international against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.
Dhawan made 109 in an Indian total of 289 for seven after Kohli won the toss and decided to bat on a hard, true pitch.
Kohli, the star of a series in which India hold an unbeatable 3-0 lead, played another valuable innings, hitting 75 in a second wicket stand of 178 with Dhawan. His 83-ball innings took Kohli to 393 runs for a series in which he has only been dismissed twice.
It was the third successive big partnership between Dhawan and Kohli. They put on an unbeaten 93 in chasing down a small target in the second match in Centurion and added 140 in setting up a win in the third match in Cape Town.
This time, though, it was the left-handed Dhawan who made the biggest contribution, hitting his 13th one-day international century in his 100th match in the format.
Dhawan, striking the ball crisply on both sides of the wicket, had made 107 in a total of 200 for two in 34.2 overs before lightning strikes near the ground caused the umpires to take the players off the field.
When play resumed after a 50-minute break, Dhawan added only two more runs before driving a ball from Morne Morkel to AB de Villiers at mid-off. His 109 runs were scored off 105 balls, with ten fours and two sixes.
De Villiers was making his first appearance of the series after suffering a fractured right index finger in the third Test against India at the same ground last month.
Ajinkya Rahane was caught at deep square leg off Lungi Ngidi an over after Dhawan’s dismissal and the innings lost momentum despite an aggressive innings of 42 not out off 43 balls by MS Dhoni.
India only scored 89 runs for the loss of five wickets in 15.4 overs after the interruption, probably finishing short of what they expected to make on a ground where scores in excess of 300 are relatively common.