An allround display, including a collective bowling effort, helped India finally assert their presence in the T20I series against South Africa as they pulled off a victory in Vizag on June 14. The hosts came out triumphant by 48 runs and took the scoreline for the five-match rubber to 2-1.
Having lost in Delhi in the opening T20I despite posting a giant score of 211, India’s bowling unit had a timely revival and unveiled their first dominating act for the series by restricting the Proteas to just 131/10 in response to their own 179/5.
As usual, lead pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar showed India the way with the new-ball delivering a pinpoint, accurate and tight spell of 1/21 off his four overs. Playing a four-over bank for his side in a run-chase where the opposition needed nearly nine an over, Bhuvi robbed the opposition of any sort of momentum they may have carried.
This benefitted the support cast immensely as they could not only exert all the pressure and leash on run-scoring but also fetched the wickets. Two of them – Yuzvendra Chahal (3/20) and Harshal Patel (4/25) – enjoyed a terrific outing with the ball. The spell from the latter further cemented his position in India’s T20I side, while the former could regain his confidence and mojo after two poor spells in Delhi and Cuttack by India’s first-choice white-ball spinner.
India’s bowling effort and the win were also a painful reminder to the hosts that they had been losing to a pretty beatable opposition so far in the series. Once India found their radar, no South African batter could withstand the quality on offer, with 29 off 24 from last match’s hero Heinrich Klaasen proving to be the highest individual score.
Reeza Hendricks (23), Dwaine Pretorius (20) and Wayne Parnell (22*) also scored twenties, but the Proteas needed more substantial contributions to put a resurgent Indian side under some pressure.
On another dry, tricky surface down south of India, where batting became progressively challenging, the Indians had perhaps their best batting performance for the series. The push to reach a score near 180-mark was led by their young, inexperienced openers – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan – who helped India reach a score of 97 without a wicket lost by the end of the 10th over.
Gaikwad helped India maximize the powerplay by going after the South African pacers, including five straight boundaries off Anrich Nortje, and went on to produce his maiden T20I fifty (57 off 35 balls). After his departure, Kishan, who had a relatively slow start to his innings, picked up the pace and went on to bag his second fifty of the series (54 off 35).
The platform provided by those two was all too critical to India’s chances of keeping the series alive, as the rest of the batting didn’t find it too easy to get going or hit the ball consistently off the square. India’s innings lost three wickets and some steam for the next five overs. But thanks to allrounder Hardik Pandya’s sensible 31 off 21 deliveries, the hosts eventually got a good score.
Utility cricketer Pretorius (2/29) was South Africa’s stand-out performer with the ball, while the rest of the cast proved a touch expensive barring Kagiso Rabada (1/31).
Brief scores
India 179/5 in 20 overs (Gaikwad 57, Kishan 54; Pretorius 2/29) beat South Africa 131/10 in 19.1 overs (Klaasen 29; Patel 4/25, Chahal 3/20) by 48 runs
