South Africa won by 51 runs in Mullanpur on Thursday, tying the series with to Quinton de Kock‘s scorching 90 and PowerPlay goals from Marco Jansen. In order to make up for the anticipated dew later in the evening, South Africa scored a strong 213/4 from their 20 overs thanks to the opener’s fireworks. Despite his heroic 62, Tilak Varma was unable to find steady company as Jansen’s bowling reduced India to 51/3 in the PowerPlay.
For the fourth time in a row, the South African openers might have been separated without a run being scored by a direct hit at the non-striker’s end on the third ball of the evening. Varun Chakravarthy’s carrom ball straight up in his first over cost the relieved Reeza Hendricks just eight runs, but by that time, Quinton de Kock had committed to the long haul with three sixes already. In the last PowerPlay over, he struck his fourth off Axar Patel, capping South Africa’s rapid 50 as India made several bowling changes.
Before resuming the huge knocks, Quinton de Kock scored his 17th half-century in Twenty20 Internationals with a midwicket boundary.
Axar was greeted with a single, and a ball later, the opener, who had contributed just 14 to the partnership with Aiden Markram, lifted the half-century. At the beginning of his third over of the evening, Arshdeep had a similar treatment, as 18 runs were leaked in 13 deliveries, including seven wides.
In the process, South Africa’s 100 was increased. After that, Markram briefly assumed control and hit two consecutive sixes off Chakravarthy before the spinner had the final laugh and claimed his second victim. Dewald Brevis joined Quinton de Kock, and during their brief relationship, they constantly dealt in boundaries to maintain the run-rate. When Quinton de Kock briefly walked out of the crease on 90, Jitesh Sharma’s deft glovework behind the stumps put an end to his dangerous run. Axar tightened the screws by catching Brevis at long-on on the opening ball of the very next over.
Bumrah’s attempt at yorkers went haywire, offering three boundary hits and a 15-run 18th over, but the two quiet wicket-overs of spin at the beginning of death pulled South Africa’s run-rate below 10. Donovan Ferreira smoked Arshdeep’s delicious full-toss over the long-on fence as he returned to the attack. Since both Bumrah (45/0) and Arshdeep (54/0) had a bad day and were having trouble controlling a wet ball, the pair scored 49 runs between them in the last three overs to help the visitors to a massive 213/4.
India lost two more wickets than South Africa, although they only managed two fewer than their PowerPlay total. In the series, Shubman Gill’s second consecutive failure was a golden duck. Despite hitting a few sixes early on, Abhishek Sharma was the first of Jansen’s two PowerPlay hits. After persuading his captain to review against Suryakumar Yadav, the lanky pacer was rewarded when the replays revealed a slight advantage.
Varma has two helpful stands to maintain India’s optimism in the face of an ever-increasing asking price. He added 35 in 22 deliveries alongside Axar Patel, who scored a run-a-ball 21 and was elevated to No. 3 in the lofty chase. Following him came Hardik Pandya, who failed to duplicate his heroics from Cuttack despite adding a 51-run partnership with Varma. Unable to establish his timing all along, he was batting on 8 off 15 before hitting a six, but he could only chip in 23-ball 20.
Varma found companionship in Jitesh to continue India’s struggle after marching to a 27-ball half-century with a maximum off Lungi Ngidi. Ottneil Baartman’s comeback over proved somewhat costly, but Jansen conceded just six in the 17th, and India needed an unlikely 91 off the final five overs. In India’s chase, Lutho Sipamla gave up a six to each of the two batters before eventually making up for it by ending the dangerous stand. The needed rate was 24 for the final 18 deliveries. When Jitesh departed India at 157/6 at the end of the 18th over, having made 27 off 17, the hosts knew it was over.
In the penultimate over, Baartman contributed to cleaning up the tail by taking three last wickets before Ngidi ended Varma’s resistance and concluded India’s reply on 162 for a decisive victory overall.
India
