India secured a 11-run victory in the third fixture of the four-match T20I series against South Africa. The game took place on Wednesday (November 13) at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
South Africa won the toss and invited India to bat first. In only the second ball of the game, Marco Jansen breached the defense of Sanju Samson (0). However, Tilak Varma managed to take out 10 runs from the first over with his attacking mindset.
Then, Abhishek Sharma wasted no time and clobbered two fours and a six off Gerald Coetzee in the second over. The duo was sensational with their hitting to accumulate 70 runs off the powerplay.
Abhishek completed his fifty off 24 balls and perished on the next delivery, as Keshav Maharaj got him stumped in the ninth over. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (1) was holed out in the subsequent over at the deep backward point region. Hardik Pandya played with good intent to contribute 18 off 16, before Maharaj trapped him LBW.
Then, Varma was a key aggressor as he found momentum to find consistent boundaries and push the team’s run-rate. However, Rinku Singh (8) continued his bad patch of form.
Varma reached his hundred with a firm lofted shot towards the straight boundary off 51 balls in the 19th over. Meanwhile, debutant Ramandeep Singh played a good hand with a six-ball 15-run knock. The visitors managed to score 219 on the board, with Varma remaining unbeaten on 107 off 56. Andile Simelane and Maharaj scalped two wickets each for the Proteas.
Arshdeep Singh’s timely wickets propel India to a win in 3rd T20I
In response to a big target, South Africa started on a strong note, securing boundaries at their will. However, Arshdeep Singh forced Ryan Rickelton (20) to drag the ball on to the stumps in the third over to break the 27-run opening stand.
Reeza Hendricks accumulated three boundaries off the fourth over bowled by Axar Patel, but Varun Chakravarthy got past his defense to get him stumped for 21.
Tristan Stubbs (12) looked good during his stay, but failed to make a connection with the bat while playing a reverse sweep against Patel and was dismissed LBW. Skipper Aiden Markram launched an assault against Chakravarthy by hitting two sixes against him in the 10th over. However, the spinner had a last laugh as Markram was caught at deep mid-wicket region on the last ball.
In the 14th over, Heinrich Klaasen slammed three sixes and a four against Chakravarthy to keep the hosts in the hunt. Just as when David Miller (18) was looking dangerous, Axar Patel took a sensational catch at deep mid-wicket to end his innings.
With a required run-rate of around 19, the score was already out of the reach for South Africa. Klaasen was dismissed by Arshdeep in the 18th over, as he failed to clear the deep backward point fence. However, Marco Jansen played a heroic knock by hitting 54 off 17, with 26 coming in Hardik Pandya’s over.
He was trapped LBW by Arshdeep Singh in the last over, as India won the game by 11 runs. The left-arm pacer was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/37.
