India captain Virat Kohli’s courageous move to bat first has backfired on his team as de Kock (79) guided South Africa to a nine-wicket win in the third T20 International to level the series here on Sunday.
To everyone’s shocker, Kohli elected to bat after the coin fell in his favor on one of the smallest grounds in India, always known to favor teams batting second in the shortest format.
firstly, the choice seemed to have worked well as India scored 54 for one in the powerplay at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The wicket of Dhawan gave the South Africans an opportunity, and they utilized it with both hands, picking out eight Indian wickets for 71 runs.
In their run chase, proteas captain de Kock looked in total control and smashed six fours and five sixes in his knock 52-ball unbeaten 79.
He further added 76 runs for the first wicket with Hendricks in 10 overs and then laid another 64 run partnership with Temba Bavuma. After scoring 19 in the first four overs, De Kock hit Navdeep Saini for two sixes, and there was no looking back from then onwards.
before, India was closed at 134 for nine by a well balanced South African attack.
Dhawan scored a 25-ball 36 and got India off to a quick start that produced them 54 runs in the powerplay.
Rabada leaked runs early on but came back picking three wickets, while there were two each for Bjorn Fortuin (2/19 in 3 overs) and Beuran Hendricks (2/14).
Playing for the first time in the series Hendricks impressed everyone by picking Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya.
Sharma got out early but he did put pace speedster Rabada under stress straightaway, played him for two four’s in his first over one over the covers and another one through extra cover.
That brought crowd king Kohli into the center but Dhawan was in charge and launched leg-spinner Shamsi with back-to-back sixes.
In the process, Dhawan mishit Shamsi, who had his revenge after Temba Bavuma finished a neat catch. Kohli, too, followed his Delhi partner as Phehlukwayo took a running catch in the deep, which bought a sight of relief to Rabada.
Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, who wanted to up the run rate, threw away their wickets within two balls, leaving India in deep trouble at 92 for five in the 13th over.
After Pant fell to Fortuin’s smart bowling, Iyer stepped got stumped with a wide leg side.
It was yet another breakdown for Pant and once again to a left-arm spinner. After Santner accounted for him in the semi-final of the world cup, Fortuin has now got him twice in two games.
At the toss, Kohli’s thinking was that he doesn’t want the team to be in their comfort zone. Batting first or second, he wants his team to be in all situations with less than a year left for the T20 World Cup.
However, India couldn’t clinch the series as South Africa leveled the series 1-1 with a washout in Dharamshala.
