The Proteas lost the 3rd T20I against India by seven wickets despite an Aiden Markram half-century.
On Sunday, December 14th, the Proteas played India in the 3rd T20 at Dharmsala. Suryakumar Yadav won the crucial toss and elected to bowl first. With the series tied at 1-1, both sides were eager to grab the momentum and take the lead.
Unfortunately for South Africa, the vast majority of the batters struggled to make any meaningful contributions with the bat. The majority of the top order struggled to adapt to the conditions and struggled to cope with the swinging ball from India’s seamers.
India’s bowlers consistently bowled good lengths, which made it difficult for our batters to adapt. Although the entire Indian attack proved to be extremely effective, the standout performers were Arshdeep Singh, who took 2 wickets for 13 runs off his 4 overs (at an economy rate of 3.25) and Varun Chakaravarthy, who took 2 wickets for 11 runs off his 4 overs at an economy rate of 2.75.
South Africa went on to score 117 all out at the end of their 20 overs. Coming in at number 3, Aiden Markram played a sublime knock of 61 off 46 balls. Throughout his innings, Markram rotated the strike really well and played his more expansive attacking shots at the right time.
Another standout performer was Donovan Ferreira, who scored 20 off 15 balls before being bowled by a googly off Chakaravarthy. Although Ferreira could have stayed in a little bit longer, I felt that he played well to increase our run rate. In my opinion, he should be batting ahead of Corbin Bosch in the lineup so that he has more time to get in and play his expansive game against spinners.
At the halfway point, it was obvious to see that South Africa could have scored an extra 10 runs if our batters showed a little bit more patience; however, I was still optimistic that 118 was a good enough score to defend.
India’s openers got off to a flying start by putting our bowlers under severe pressure and scoring at an extremely rapid rate. Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill put on a 63-run opening stand before Markram took a great catch in the outfield (off the bowling of Corbin Bosch). This left India at 63 runs for the loss of 1 wicket.
Shubman Gill was the next batter to be dismissed for 28 by chopping onto his stumps off the bowling of Marco Jansen. India were 92 for 2 when Gill was dismissed. Suryakumar Yadav was the last wicket to fall when Baartman took a catch in the outfield off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi. At the fall of Yadav’s wicket, India were 109 for 3 off 14.4 overs.
India chased the total down and subsequently won the match by 7 wickets with 25 balls left. India now has a 2-1 lead with two matches remaining.