Conrad hopes SA's young batters learn from Kohli, Rohit and 'grow from there'

Fans in Ranchi, Raipur and Visakhapatnam were not only ones happy to see Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in action in the ODI series against South Africa, the opposition's young batters were too.

For Ryan Rickelton, Matthew Breetzke and Dewald Brevis, none of whom had played ODIs against India before, watching the two of the top-ten leading run-scorers in the format up close would have been an education their coach Shukri Conrad hopes they immersed themselves in. "For our young batters to see what the world's best - Virat and Rohit - can do and how they go about the business, I'd like to think that we'll take that learning with us and then grow from there."

Kohli was in imperious form through the series, with centuries in the first two games, and finished as its highest run-scorer while Rohit contributed two quick and classy half-centuries. Both played important roles in India's ability to post massive scores and though South Africa did the same in two of the three fixtures, the consistency of India's best was something both to behold and aspire to.

South Africa's highest run-scorer was Breetzke, whose two half-centuries added to his tally of five (and a century) in his first 12 ODIs, and whose intensity has been compared with Kohli's by his SA20 captain Keshav Maharaj. But he still had just over half Kohli's runs in the series, which shows something of where South Africa fell short.

Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock got hundreds and Temba Bavuma and Brevis a fifty each but South Africa collectively did not kick on like they would have wanted to. Rickelton's form is a concern, especially his lack of footwork, and the composition of the top order remains in question. Tony de Zorzi, who did a lot of good work over the last two months in the subcontinent, will be out for an extended period of time after suffering a grade three hamstring injury which will further scupper some of South Africa's medium-term plans.

They have nine more ODIs scheduled on the FTP before April 2027, which is a long time but not many matches to confirm their home World Cup plans. It's still far enough away to not be too concerned and Conrad isn't. "Part of this is building towards 2027, the World Cup in South Africa and I'd like to think that a few things are starting to fall into place for that," he said. "We've built a lot of experience and you gain so much more experience when you're up against the best."

Naturally, after the success of their Test side last month, South Africa also wanted to beat the best and they gave it a decent shot. They fell 18 runs short of a target of 350 in game one, chased 359 in game two and then ultimately could not post a competitive total in game three, which is the only match where they batted first. Conrad did not use that as an excuse. "There's no doubt that the toss plays a part. Batting second is easier, but that's not the reason India thumped us tonight," he said. "I don't think it's the dew factor that was the only difference between the two sides. We let ourselves down with the bat. We needed to post something a lot more competitive to put India under pressure. We left a lot of runs out there this evening."

After de Kock's dismissal for 106, South Africa lost five wickets for 59 runs and were bowled out with 13 deliveries remaining in their innings. India's chase, inside 40 overs, suggested they would have needed to face those balls and score significantly more runs to have challenged them. And while there is a massive focus on batting in a high-scoring series, South Africa will also zoom in on their bowlers.

They were without Kagiso Rabada from the outset and then Nandre Burger for the decider and found it difficult both to control the run-rate and to take wickets. Marco Jansen's four was the most for them across three matches and less than half of the leading wicket-taker, Kuldeep Yadav's nine, though he has a different discipline. South Africa's premier spinner, Keshav Maharaj, played two matches and took one wicket but his economy of 5.70 was their most efficient.

What South Africa lacked was a seamer who could hold an end, as Arshdeep Singh did for India. He conceded at 5.5 runs to the over and took five wickets. "With the ball they've been a lot more disciplined than we've been throughout the series. You only need to look at the wide count," Conrad said.

ver the three matches, South Africa gave away 47 runs in wides compared to India's 21 which is indicative of their struggle for control. It also cost the chance to do the double, so to speak, which would have been a feather in Conrad's cap. "We had a chance to do something really special. I think the last time India lost both a Test and ODI series at home goes back to the 1990s," Conrad said. "So we missed out on that opportunity. But they're a world-class side with world-class players. And when Rohit's in the type of form, and Virat, especially, is in the type of form that he's in, you cannot afford to be off your game."

South Africa were and they don't have another trophy but they do have a five-match T20I series to prepare for, which starts on Tuesday.