India were outplayed by South Africa in the fifth and final ODI in Mumbai as they lost the match and thus the series, 3-2. South Africa put up a master class performance to help defeat India by 214 runs.
Right from the outset, South Africa were in brilliant control of the game as their opener Quinton de Kock came up with a brilliant century to provide a perfect platform for the rest of the batsmen to go in for the kill. Kock scored 109 runs off 87 runs.
From here on, there was no turning back for South Africa as AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis also scored big hundreds to help South Africa post a mammoth total of 438 runs.
India skipper MS Dhoni believed that the Proteas would score in excess of 350 the way they batted.
"South Africa began their batting very well, they kept going and accelerated later also. The way they batted, 350- plus was on the cards. But, it was a very good a wicket to bat," said Dhoni.
For India, there was not a single bowler, who could stop the run flow. The seniormost bowler for India, Harbhajan Singh, who gave away 70 runs from his allotted 10 overs, was the most economical bowler for India.
The South Africa batsmen took a liking towards the seamers as they were thrashed all around the park. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave away 106 runs from 10 overs.
"Our fast bowlers could not get much from the pitch with their bouncers, neither the spinners were getting the turn. We know the Wankhede wicket. Nothing went right for our bowlers. The wicket was a bit of too true for the spinners as well as the fast bowlers," said Dhoni.
With such a huge score of 438 runs, India were required to start well if they were to have any chance of winning the match and the series. But it was not to be as India lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli early as the score read 44 runs on the board.These two wickets primarily blew India's chances of a win.
Rahane was the highest scorer for India with 87 runs from 58 balls, but it was never going to be enough when chasing a score in excess of 400 runs.
"All the batsmen tried their best and we were onto the chase. But once the asking had shot over 15 an over after the 25th over, it was a tough job for us," said Dhoni.
"This one match (today's) has completely taken us away from the series. But this happens in cricket and we can't do much."
Though India might have lost the series, they did come up with some competitive cricket in the first four ODI matches. However, when it mattered most, the Indian team failed to turn up with both the bat and ball.
