South African batsmen blow away Indian bowlers as they chase the target of 152 in 13.5 overs. The South African batsmen were in excellent touch and didn’t spare any of the bowlers. Reeza Hendricks who has spent most of the CWC 2023 on the sidelines was in some form as he smashed 49 of just 27 balls. Every South African batsman who came to the crease batted with some intent and attacked the Indian bowlers.
Openers Struggle for India
The Day began for the visitors with Surya losing one more toss. Interestingly this has been the fifth consecutive game where Surya lost the toss. With rain expected to arrive during the match, South African captain Aiden Markram chose to field first. He wasn’t disappointed by his bowlers as they were on the mark and removed both the Indian openers for ducks.
It would’ve been ducks for the top three Indian Batsmen had Miller held on to Tilak Varma’s catch in the first over. Making the most of the missed opportunity Tilak smashed Marco Jansen for 19 in the third over and captain Surya greeted Gerald Coetzee taking 15 in his first over. Tilak got out chasing a wide one outside off as Jansen completed the catch at third man.
Rinku Singh’s Show
India was in a tricky situation of 59-3 after the powerplay. However, Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh kept on attacking and didn’t let the scoring rate drop. SKY completed his fifty and looked all set for the launch but Chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi had other plans the spinner troubled the Indian batters with his variations giving just 18 runs off his quota and also picked up the scalp of SKY.
Jitesh Sharma who was preferred ahead of Ishan Kishan did not trouble the scorers the much. Ravindra Jadeja who is making a return to the T20I squad after a long time chipped in with some runs and Rinku who is now mastering the number 5 position scored his maiden fifty in International Cricket showing that he is not just a finisher and can adapt to the situations and play accordingly. The left-hand batter would’ve loved to add some runs to his tally but rain spoiled sport as the Indian Innings was cut short after 19.3 overs with 180 on the board.
Openers set the tone for South Africa
Chasing 152 in 15 overs, The South African Openers set the tone upfront taking 14 of the first and 24 of the second. Both the openers took on the Indian bowlers and didn’t let them settle. Seeing this onslaught Indian Skipper Surya introduced spin in the third over and got a lucky breakthrough as Breetzke fell short of his ground.
The wicket didn’t help the bowlers much with Rainfall and the pitch played better after the rainfall. SA skipper joined with Reeza Hendricks and both played some exquisite shots taking SA to 96 in 8 overs. The Indian bowlers tried to come back into the game picking some wickets but it was too late as South Africa was in cruise control of the game and chased the target with 7 balls to spare.
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