Quinton de Kock missed out on a much-deserved ODI ton against England when the game came to a halt because of rain. The Proteas wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten for 92 as the game was called off. As De Kock was deprived of a century his 18th ODI century in the last ODI of the series, he achieved a feat which belongs to legendary Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar.
The last time a batter remained unbeaten in nineties in ODIs and the match ended abruptly was in 1984. Vegsarkar was on his way to century in Sialkot against Pakistan when an unfortunate incident back home led to the game getting called off. Vengsarkar was batting on 94 and India were on their way to a good score when the game was abandoned due to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
In both the cases, the team batting first was dominating the proceedings. De Kock was batting at an impressive strike rate of 121.05. The southpaw had taken 76 deliveries to get to 92 and South Africa looked set to post a 300-plus score. The visitors were 159/2 after 27.4 overs and the third-wicket partnership between De Kock and Aiden Markram was 60 runs.
Nearly, 38 years ago, India were 210/3 in 40 overs and looked set to post a massive total in the 60 overs per side game. Mohinder Amarnath-led India had to return back home with one ODI and Test remaining in the series.
After the game was called off, the series ended in a 1-1 draw. In the first ODI which was Ben Stokes' farewell ODI game, Rassie van der Dussen led his team to victory with a
hundred. The hosts lost the game by 62 runs. In the second ODI which was a rain-curtailed 29 overs per side game, South Africa got bundled out for 83 and lost the game by a big margin of 118 runs.