RSA VS SL - 1st ODI, Sri Lanka tour of South Africa, 2019

So, after a shambolic defeat in the Test series, South Africa took a sweet revenge today. They won without breaking a sweat. But this in no way would heal the wounds that Test series has inflicted on them. They would like to continue on the winning ways and Faf would like to continue batting at the number-3 spot. He is the best batter in the South African team and best batsman in the team should bat at that spot in ODIs. That's it then for today. Join us on 6th of March for the second ODI. Until then, this is Varun Dixit signing off on behalf of Abhinand, Nikhil and Sreenivas. Goodnight and take good care!

Faf du Plessis, Man of the Match and winning skipper: I thought we played very well. We won an important toss. The wicket was slow and we played well. Imran in the middle overs is handful if he is bowling to five and six, so early strikes are very useful for us. Imran has been my biggest weapon over the years. He is so hard to face when he is bowling to new batters and that makes the wickets with the new ball even more important. QDK is a class batsman, he makes flow of batting very easy.

Malinga: We lost wickets at a crucial time. It was hard to capitalize after that. It was tough for the new batsmen to come in and score quickly as the wicket became slow. We are looking forward for the next game. The set batsmen in the middle have to take the responsibility of finishing the match. Players have to concentrate on their roles. They have to finish the innings well.

17:06 Local Time, 15:06 GMT, 20:36 IST: A stroll in the park on a Sunday afternoon for the Proteas. The target was never going to challenge this South African batting line-up on this batting beauty. They lost the wicket of Hendricks early but that did not set any panic in the dressing room of the home side. Faf marched out to the middle and he oozed confidence. He was dropped early in the innings but after that lifeline, he batted like a true champion. His partner, QDK meant business right from the scratch. The partnership of 136-run between the pair ensured South Africa cruise towards the victory. QDK missed out on a hundred but Faf ensured he gets one and fittingly he scored the final runs to finish off the match. Hang on for the presentations.

Sandakan to du Plessis, 1 run, Faf hits the winning runs for the Proteas! It was on the stumps and South African skipper uses his wrists to clip it to the on-side. He finishes things off in a clinical fashion. South Africa win by 8 wickets and lead the 5-match series 1-0

Sandakan to van der Dussen, 1 run, knocks it down the ground and hands over the strike to his skipper to finish it

2 more required to win.

Sandakan to van der Dussen, 2 runs, touch short and wide of off, van der Dussen goes on the back foot and cuts it wide of cover for a brace

Sandakan to van der Dussen, no run, smashes it to mid-off

Sandakan to van der Dussen, no run, it spins in and bounces extra, misses the inside edge of van der Dussen and deflects to the off-side off the thigh pad

Fernando to du Plessis, FOUR, back-to-back fours for Faf. He is finishing it quickly. It was a short one and du Plessis identifies it pretty early, gets in a good position and pumps it down the ground for a boundary

Fernando to du Plessis, FOUR, short and on the body. du Plessis stands tall and powers the pull wide of deep mid-wicket for a boundary

Fernando to du Plessis, 2 runs, some intent on this shot. He wanted to loft it over deep mid-wicket but no timing on it at all and it will be fielded by deep mid-wicket

Fernando to du Plessis, no run, yorker on the stumps, du Plessis makes room but fails to beat backward point on the steer

Fernando to van der Dussen, 1 run, good length delivery wide of off, van der Dussen steers it to sweeper cover

Fernando to van der Dussen, no run, on a length and around off, it doesn't bounce much and goes under the bat of van der Dussen

Sandakan to du Plessis, no run, short and was wide of off, it keeps a touch low and du Plessis mistimes the punch to cover

Sandakan to du Plessis, no run, waits for it to turn and nudges it to the on-side, fails to beat short mid-wicket

Sandakan to du Plessis, no run, this one spins in, du Plessis goes on the back foot and cuts it to cover

Sandakan to van der Dussen, 1 run, pushes it to mid-off and collects a single