India Crush SA; Keep Series Alive

BENGALURU: India bounced back strongly to crush South Africa by 48 runs in the 3rd T20I in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. India had lost the first two matches of the five-match series.

Asked to bat first, half-centuries from openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan slammed half-centuries that helped India post 179 for five from 20 overs.

Gaikwad and Kishan added 97 runs for the opening wicket in 10 overs before the former was dismissed by the left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj for 57.

While Ishan was slightly watchful early on, Ruturaj played his shots with unmistakable panache as he smacked the pacer Anrich Nortje for five boundaries in an over.

India’s innings went into limbo for a while after his dismissal as Ishan, Shreyas Iyer and the captain Rishabh Pant also fell in quick succession, but the all-rounder Hardik Pandya reeled off a breezy cameo in death overs to push India to a challenging total.

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The visitors lost their captain Temba Bavuma early as he was snared by the left-arm Axar Patel for just eight. The other opener, Reeza Hendricks, also perished soon after as he was deceived by the subtle change of pace by Harshal Patel.

After the Powerplay, South Africa were only 38 for 2 in 6 overs. Though Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn’t snap up any wicket in his opening spell, he squeezed batsmen for runs.

After the Powerplay, Yuzvendra Chahal, who was taken to the cleaners in their last match, ran rings around South African batsmen. The leggie got rid of Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius to put the visitors in a spot of bother.

Harshal dealt a massive blow to South Africa as he outfoxed David Miller with his customary slower ball in the 11th over. The hero of the last match, Heinrich Klassen, played some exquisite shots but was undone by Chahal in the 15th over for 29 off 24 balls.

In the end, the hosts bowled South Africa out for 131 in 19.1 overs to seal a 48-run win. Harshal and Chahal snaffled four and three wickets respectively.

The fourth match of the series will be played on Friday at Rajkot.