‘Solid comeback’ – Yuzvendra Chahal shines as India keeps the T20I series alive after winning the third match by 48 runs
After losing both the matches, India faced South Africa in the third match of the series at the VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. This match was a do-or-die situation for India to keep them alive in this series with two more games to go after this.
South African captain Temba Bavuma won the toss again and he opted for bowling first. India captain Rishabh Pant had no luck with him as he has now lost all the three tosses so far. Both teams went unchanged from the previous match. After being asked for batting first, India started on a good note, thanks to both openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan.
This Right-left combination worked well today as they notched up 97 runs in 10 overs before Ruuraj Gaikwad lost his wicket to Keshav Maharaj. Ruturaj scored his maiden T20I half-century (57 runs off 35 balls) while Ishan brought up his fourth half-century, including two in this series only. He scored 54 runs off 35 balls before losing his wicket to Pretorius. Then, South African bowlers managed to pull some momentum back in their favour by conceding only 46 runs and grabbing three crucial wickets in the middle phase of the innings.
After scoring 97 runs in 10 overs, India was losing the plot by scoring 143 runs at the end of the 16th over. However, Hardik Pandya managed to remain not out as his unbeaten knock of 31* off 21 balls took India to 179 runs in 20 overs by losing five wickets only. South Africa’s Pretorius was the pick of the bowlers for them as he picked up two wickets by conceding 29 runs in four overs. His off-cutters worked really well during that middle phase of the innings.
In reply, South African batters find it difficult today to keep up with the required run rate of 9 runs per over from the first over. Axar Patel drew the first blood by picking up the wicket of the Protea skipper, Temba Bavuma at the score of 23 in four overs. His other spinning partner, Yuzvendra Chahal also joined the party by grabbing the crucial wickets of Pretorius (20 off 16 balls) and Van der Dussen (1 off 4 balls). After losing four main batters, South Africa was struggling completely by scoring only 63 runs in 10 overs. Both Indian spinners were on top form today as they picked up four wickets by conceding 48 runs in eight overs between them.
Informed middle-order batters, David Miller (3 off 5 balls) and Heinrich Klassen (29 off 24 balls) failed to repeat their recent heroics as the Proteas were under huge pressure by managing only 102 runs by losing six wickets in 15 overs. Harshal Patel also grabbed four wickets by conceding only 25 runs in 3.1 overs. South Africa got bundled out for 131 runs in 19.1 overs as India won the match by 48 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the star of the show by picking up three wickets for 20 runs in four overs. This was India’s first win over the Proteas after losing seven games in a row across all the formats of this game.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:
https://twitter.com/mipaltan/status/1536717804354740224
Ishan Kishan in this series:
76, 34, 52*
He's back!#INDvsSA #IshanKishan pic.twitter.com/rxUhlCnFTa
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) June 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/RCBTweets/status/1536715190577659912
#INDvSA | 3rd T20I
Gaikwad (57), Kishan (54) take India to 179/5 against South Africa. (Pretorius 2/29)
Follow Live: https://t.co/F757grMF7I pic.twitter.com/tmdHuHyUlJ
— TOI Sports (@toisports) June 14, 2022
#hardikpandya 31* in good touch #India post 179-5
— Chris H Bhinder (@BhinderChris_H) June 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/Prajwal2742/status/1536727110349312000
https://twitter.com/BCCI/status/1536718689734602752
https://twitter.com/DelhiCapitals/status/1536712319534649349
https://twitter.com/sidmalhotra60/status/1536727130146369536
Most T20I 50+ Scores for India at 23 age
4 – Ishan Kishan*
4 – Virat Kohli
4 – Suresh Raina
4 – Rohit Sharma#INDvsSA— CricBeat (@Cric_beat) June 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/siva_vainav/status/1536736970936045568
https://twitter.com/OfficialCSA/status/1536738048658092032
https://twitter.com/sirTembaB/status/1536738285917294598
https://twitter.com/PunjabKingsIPL/status/1536738335267381249
https://twitter.com/TukTuk_Academy/status/1536737119971921921
Advantage India so far, but South Africa still have Miller and Klaasen to chase down 117 in ten overs #INDvSA
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/DelhiCapitals/status/1536743371317792768
Spinners joined the party today and India are on top!!! #INDvSA
— Anushanth R (@Anushanth_R) June 14, 2022
Match winner!! @yuzi_chahal not giving away anything and picking up wickets in heaps. He has almost brought the game home for India with this wicket of Klaasen. #INDvSA
— Reema Malhotra (@ReemaMalhotra8) June 14, 2022
3RD T20I. WICKET! 18.5: Anrich Nortje 0(1) Run Out Bhuvneshwar Kumar, South Africa 131/9 https://t.co/vK7q1s2Vt7 #INDvSA @Paytm
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/ESPNcricinfo/status/1536754119678959616
