Prasidh, Kuldeep limit South Africa to 270 after De Kock's hundred
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India fought back gallantly through Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav after Quinton de Kock struck his 23rd hundred, keeping South Africa to a manageable 270 in the third and series-deciding final ODI, here Saturday.
India won the toss after judging the spin of the coin incorrectly 20 times in a row. They had little hesitation in inserting the Proteas into bat, a clear indication of dew factor dominating the thought.
After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89b, 8x4, 6x4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67b) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.
De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.
The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.
Bavuma was more sedate, and made runs through those typical dabs and jabs, occasionally unfurling a drive of elan.
De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.
India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma to get caught by Virat Kohli at point.
The tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzkle for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.
But Breetzke's punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.
What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).
Breetzke was the first man to go, trapped plumb in front with a straight one and four balls later Aiden Markram uppishly chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.
Prasidh soon castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery from the pacer.
All of a sudden, SA found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in the space of three overs.
Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as SA fell short of even a par total on this track.
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Three arrested in Gurugram for aiding Chinese cyber fraud syndicate
Gurugram (PTI): The Gurugram Cyber Police has arrested three men for allegedly providing calling support to a Chinese fraud syndicate, officials said on Wednesday.
According to the officials, a 20-port physical SIM box and a laptop were seized from them. These arrests come after a woman from Nagaland was held in connection with the same case.
The arrested accused have been identified as Karma (32) from Nagaland, and Lobsang Tsultim (33) and Ngawang Gyaltsen (35), both from Himachal Pradesh. Karma and Tsultim were arrested on February 14. Gyaltsen was intercepted on February 16 near Majnu Ka Tila in Delhi while attempting to flee to Nepal.
Police said the accused, during questioning, revealed that they were using SIM boxes to facilitate fraudulent calls targeting Indian citizens.
Karma and Lobsang Tsultim admitted to installing virtual SIM boxes in Gurugram on the instructions of a Chinese national named Tsega, they said.
These setups, which included 20 mobile phones, were capable of making over 20,000 calls a day. Tsega, allegedly used an application to contact Indian citizens for various crimes, including gaming and investment fraud, they said.
Tsultim and Gyaltsen were born in China and have lived in India as refugees for 15 years. Fluent in Chinese and Taiwanese, they communicated with Tsega via WeChat, a platform banned in India since 2020, they added.
ACP Cyber Priyanshu Dewan said the three accused were produced in court on Wednesday and have been sent to judicial custody.
"We are working to identify others involved in the network," he added.
