A magnificent century from Aiden Markram laid the platform for South Africa’s middle-order big-hitters to chase down a daunting target of 359 to level the series with a four-wicket victory against India in the second one-day international at the Shaheed Narayan Stadium in Raipur on Wednesday.
Markram’s 110 from just 98 balls was supplemented by half centuries from Matthew Breetzke (68) and a scintillating Dewald Brevis who stroked five sixes and a solitary four in his whirlwind 54 from 34 balls to haul South Africa back in the game with the required rate well above nine runs per over.
Captain Temba Bavuma (46 from 48 balls) added 101 with Markram for the second wicket after the early loss of Quinton de Kock, but there was drama aplenty in the closing overs with Tony de Zorzi forced to retire hurt with a hamstring injury having made a quickfire 17 from 11 balls.
Corbin Bosch made a lightning start with three boundaries from his first six deliveries to calm the nerves in the company of Keshav Maharaj but with just Lungi Ngidi and an injured Nandre Burger to come, it became necessary to tip-toe over the line with 27 needed from the final 30 balls.
But Bosch was the epitome of calm to finish on 29* from just 15 balls and Maharaj (10* from 14) limited himself to singles as the Proteas crept to their target with four balls remaining to complete their third highest successful run chase and condemn India to the second highest total they have failed to defend.
Raining sixes in Raipur 🚀
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) December 3, 2025
South Africa's batters go big to complete the third-highest run chase in ODI matches on Indian soil 👏👏#SSCricket | #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/n6Lf4MsvAM
TWIN TONS FOR INDIA
It all seemed so unlikely after a maiden century for Ruturaj Gaikwad and a 53rd for Virat Kohli helped India to a total 358-5 after being asked to bat first.
Gaikwad scored heavily during the ‘middle overs’ taking 16 runs of Maharaj’s eighth over, the 28th of the innings, while Kohli was doing Kohli things in imperious fashion.
📸📸 Ruturaj's Raipur Ton 💯
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 3, 2025
Relive his knock here 🎥🔽https://t.co/L9POFdCslU#TeamIndia | #INDvSA | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/9MCf7UlQGr
Stupendous. Remarkable. Exemplary 🫡
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 3, 2025
Recap Virat Kohli's 53rd ODI Hundred 🎥🔽 https://t.co/9jolWYnnTB#TeamIndia | #INDvSA | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/9rTVm77Xq1
Gaikwad hooked slower-ball bouncer from Jansen to long leg to depart for 105 from just 83 balls which included a dozen boundaries and two sixes, a welcome addition to the 17 List ‘A’ centuries in the 28-year-old’s career.
He also shared an Indian record partnership against South Africa, for any wicket, of 195 with Kohli.
Kohli departed soon afterwards driving a Lungi Ngidi slower ball to long on where Markram held a low catch, his 102 having come from just 93 balls with seven fours and a brace of sixes.
The running between the wickets by the 36-year-old was fast and frenetic enough to embarrass players ten years his junior.
In truth it was a horrible performance in the field from South Africa with the bowlers delivering an eye-watering 20 wides while the fielding was obviously affected by the intimidating noise from a 50 000+ crowd but that was only the first half of the match.
While Markram and Breetzke, who passed 50 for the seventh time in 11 innings from his debut, provided sublime control along with Bavuma, Brevis provided the fireworks to the tune of classical music rather than rock’n’roll.
It was a memorable victory.
WELL PLAYED, BREVIS - 54 runs from just 34 balls, What a mad guy in Middle phase, A six hitting machine for South Africa 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0dYIhIIGXg
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 3, 2025
Adding to de Zorzi’s injury, Nandre Burger hobbled off the field after bowling the first ball of his seventh over leaving Markram to expensively fill the void with 4.5 overs at a cost of 48 runs.
Only Ngidi (10-1-51-1) conceded less than six runs per over with the normally frugal Maharaj going for 70 in his 10 while Bosch, who was taken for 18 in the final over, was left licking his wounds with 8-0-79-0.
Jansen bowled better than his figures of 10-0-63-2 might suggest.
But none of that mattered when a remarkable match which saw over 700 runs scored for the first time between the teams came to an end.
Aiden Markram's fourth ODI hundred provided the foundation for South Africa's stunning chase against India 🌟#INDvSA 📝: https://t.co/b4ectUVL0T pic.twitter.com/NqJBYhggTT
— ICC (@ICC) December 3, 2025
INDIA: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (captain/wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock (wkt), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (captain), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi.