Mid-innings report: De Villiers powers South Africa to 303/5

AB de Villiers whirlwind 73-ball 104-run unbeaten knock and Faf du Plessis’ 77-ball 62-run knock helped South Africa post 303 for the loss five wickets against India in the first ODI of the five-match series against India at Green Park, Kanpur on Sunday.
After opting to bat first in the only day game of the series, South Africa batsmen build solid partnerships, capitalising on Indian skipper MS Dhoni’s tactical errors with de Villiers and Farhaan Behardien finishing with a flourish, taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners in the last five overs by scoring a whopping 65 runs.
Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock had combined for a 45-run stand in just 8.4 overs before Ravichandran Ashwin broke the partnership by removing de Kock (29) in his very first over.
Dhoni removed Ashwin from the attack after the solitary over, probably saving the off-spinner for South African skipper de Villiers, but that allowed Faf du Plessis to settle and he, along with Amla, cantered to a 55-run stand for the second wicket, after which de Villiers took charge and helped the visitors smack 109 runs in the last 10 overs, en route to his 21st fifty. He scored his first fifty runs in 54 balls and the next fifty came in just 19 balls with the help of four sixes and five fours.
For India, Amit Mishra was the most economical bowler giving away 47 runs in his two overs and taking two wickets. His first wicket of the day came in the form of Amla as a quicker delivery went past Amla’s defenses and crashed on to the stumps at a time when his partnership with du Plessis looked threatening.
Mishra and Stuart Binny did well to contain South Africa in the middle overs as de Villiers bided his time in the middle. A side strain while fielding off his own bowling meant Ashwin had to be off the field for a while, which one again presented a South African batsman to settle in with ease. This time around it was de Villiers.
Du Plessis reached his 17th ODI fifty with the first six of the match, but failed to carry on as he was trapped leg before wicket owing a sharp inward movement of the ball from Umesh Yadav (2/71) in the 34th over.
Suresh Raina, as a back-up bower did reasonably well giving away just 37 runs from his seven overs. Binny did what was asked off him and kept the ball up, bowling a stump-to-stump line, before he was taken to the cleaners in the death overs by the South African skipper. Binny gave away 21 runs in his 8th over, the 45th of the South African innings.
After reaching his fifty off 54 balls with the help of just two sixes, de Villiers upped the ante in his usual manner and despite losing big-hitters David Miller (13) to Mishra and JP Duminy (15) to Yadav, the skipper remained unflustered and went about tonking the bowlers despite not timely the ball well.
The skipper was ably supported by Farhaan Behardien, whose little cameo of 35 not out off 19 balls propelled South Africa to a formidable total. In the last three overs, Yadav gave away 13 and 21 runs while Bhuvneshwar Kumar 19.
Brief Scores: South Africa 303/5 (AB de Villiers 104*, Faf du Plessis 62; Amit Mishra 2/47, Umesh Yadav 2/71)