Who was the first batsman to score a hundred in a one-dayer in South Africa? (08 October 2001)

The match in question saw India take on South Africa. It was the third one-dayer on South African soil. The visitors had lost the first two and were desperately hunting for a hero. And out he walked, the unlikeliest of men...

The gangly Woorkheri Raman had been the most successful Indian batsman in the one-dayers ahead of the match at Centurion. But in a line-up studded with some of the most incandescent names in international cricket, the elegant left-hander was almost nobody's man. Not that he was not a match-winner; in fact, in domestic tournaments at home, scarcely a match would go by when the 'Raman Effect' was not turned on at its fullest. However, on the international stage, against quality fast bowling, Raman for all his lazy elegance was found wanting.

December 11, 1992, though was a day that the gods seemed to have set aside for the then 27-year-old Madrasi. South Africans, normally the safest of fielders, began to drop Raman with alarming regularity. The Indian opener rode the waves of luck coming his way, taking India within shouting distance of their first win against the South Africans in South Africa, before being dismissed for 113.

He deservedly won the Man-of-the-Match award for his efforts after Ravi Shastri and Kiran More saw India home. Raman, who is a CricInfo columnist these days, is incidentally also the first batsman to find the boundary in a one-dayer in South Africa.

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