IND vs SA 3rd T20 Bangalore Highlights saw a batting debacle and Indian team lost the final match of the three-game T20I series against South Africa at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. India’s win-loss record was 2-2 in the T20I format at the venue before this match. This win helped South Africa to equal the series 1-1.
The top-order collapse
One of the most batting lineups had a major collapse in the third and final T20 of the ongoing series against the Proteas in Bangalore. Winning toss Virat Kohli elected to bat first which turned out to be a boomerang for his team. Shikhar Dhawan did try his bit with some initial fireworks. He hit four fours and two maximums to score 36 off 25 balls and tried to hold the innings even after losing his partner, Rohit Sharma within the third over. Rohit was gone for just nine runs in the third over but India was able to dominate the first six Powerplay overs.
IND vs SA 3rd T20 Bangalore Highlights saw another Rohit equaled MS Dhoni to become India’s most capped T20I player. Both have played 98 T20 international matches for India till now. The second position in the list is occupied by and Suresh Raina who has played 78 T20Is followed by Virat Kohli at the 4th place in the list with 72 matches thus far.
But then the departure of Shikhar Dhawan gave the South Africans an opening, and the opportunity was grabbed by the visitors with both hands. Dhawan followed him soon in the 8th over. All eyes were obviously on Virat Kohli, yet again. But this time the skipper also failed. He could add only a 15-ball 9 and India were crawling with 68/3. This is only the fourth time in 31 T20I chases that Virat Kohli has failed to cross the 20-run mark.
It was also interesting battled between the captain and his deputy regarding the highest T20I run scorer’s place. Eventually, Kohli ends as the topper with seven runs ahead in the total from Rohit. Kohli has now 2450 runs whereas Rohit has 2443 runs.
Tough time continues for Pant
Rishabh Pant had the perfect platform in front of him to prove himself and shut the critics. He started off well but could not capitalize on the same. A clever delivery from Bjorn Fortuin tempted Pant to reach the ball. But it did not turn as much as it was expected to be and was pouched by Quinton de Kock quite easily. With the talks of Sanju Samson already doing the rounds, this match was a vital one for the 21-year old. Nobody knows now what is in store for him in future but this was a golden chance after the entire star-studded top order failed.
After Pant it was Shreyas Iyer who threw away his wicket within a space of two balls There was still hope left with Pandya brothers and Ravindra Jadeja to follow. But none could really contribute anything valuable as such. But thanks to Hardik’s 14 off 18 and Jadeja’s 19 off 17 helped India set a target of 135.
Kagiso Rabada was instrumental and picked up three major wickets of Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja for just 39 runs in four overs. Fortuin and Beuran Hendricks did the rest of the job by taking two wickets apiece.
The captain leads the way for South Africa
IND vs SA 3rd T20 Bangalore Highlights saw Indian captain failed, it was the South African skipper who rose to the occasion to save his team. It was the absolute brilliance from de Kock that the Proteas could manage to win the match and draw the series. The openers gave a perfect start to the chase and added 76 runs for the first wicket. After the dismissal of Reeza Hendricks (28 off 26), the skipper was joined by Temba Bavuma. Both remained till the end to seal the match in favor of their team. While de Kock was outstanding Bavuma provided the right kind of support. They added 64 runs together for the second wicket and completed the job. Quinton de Kock scored 79 runs off just 52 balls. He was outstanding throughout the innings and took the control. He went on to hit six fours and five sixes. He brought up his fourth T20I half-century in just 38 balls. He also became the 6th player to amass 1000 T20I runs for South Africa.
Chahar signs again
The only success Indians had in IND vs SA 3rd T20 Bangalore Highlights during South African innings when Hardik Pandya picked up the wicket of Hendricks. The young bowlers Deepak Chahar and Washington Sundar were impressive. Chahar ended as the most economical bowlers for his (3-0-15-0) and Washington’s bowling analysis read 4-0-27-0. It was a good collective effort by the duo to defend the low score. Navdeep Saini, on the contrary, had a bad outing as he conceded 25 runs in just two overs.
Brief scores: India 134/9 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 36, Hardik Pandya 1/23) lost to South Africa 140/1 in 16.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 79*, Kagiso Rabada 3/39) by nine wickets.