South Africa delivered a comprehensive performance to secure a commanding 76-run victory over India in Ahmedabad on Sunday. The hosts were dismissed for 111 while pursuing a target of 188. Despite Jasprit Bumrah’s exceptional figures of 3 for 15, the Proteas managed to accumulate 187 for 7 after electing to bat first.
The visitors found themselves in early difficulty at 20 for 3, but David Miller and Dewald Brevis constructed a crucial partnership of 97 runs from 50 deliveries to orchestrate a remarkable recovery. Miller contributed 63 runs from 35 balls, while Brevis departed after scoring 45 from 29 deliveries. Tristan Stubbs provided a dynamic finishing performance with an unbeaten 44 from 24 balls, propelling the Proteas beyond the 180-run mark. South Africa Exposed India And Broke India’s Winning Streak .
TOSS
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first.
PLAYING XI
India (Playing XI):
Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy
South Africa (Playing XI):
Aiden Markram(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
SOUTH AFRICA
India’s bowling attack initially vindicated their decision to field by swiftly reducing the opposition to 20 for 3. Bumrah dismantled two left-handed batsmen through contrasting methods – a rapid, seam-up delivery directed at Quinton de Kock dislodged the left bail, while a cleverly concealed slower delivery caused Ryan Rickelton to mistime his shot, resulting in a leading edge to mid-off. Arshdeep Singh claimed the wicket between these dismissals, successfully executing his plan against Markram by inducing a false stroke to mid-off with a delivery that gripped the surface.
South Africa required an immediate response. Fortunately, Miller arrived at the crease in exceptional form that transformed the match dynamics. He commenced his innings by timing the ball with remarkable precision – extracting two boundaries from Varun Chakaravarthy’s bowling, followed by two additional boundaries from Arshdeep’s over, accumulating 18 runs from merely 8 deliveries. Upon completion of the Powerplay, South Africa had recovered to reach 41 runs.
Having reached 144 for 4 in the 15th over, South Africa had staged an impressive comeback and positioned themselves for a total approaching 200 runs. Suryakumar opted to deploy the struggling Chakaravarthy for a fourth over, a tactical decision that proved successful as the premier T20I bowler somewhat restored his reputation by dismissing Miller, who struck the ball directly to long-off. Despite conceding 47 runs, this dismissal ensured Chakaravarthy had taken at least one wicket for his 18th consecutive T20I innings – establishing a new record for India and surpassing Arshdeep’s previous streak of 17 matches.
As per India’s plan, they used their main bowlers early to take more wickets. Regarding this move, it worked well as Bumrah bowled two great overs and got Bosch out, finishing with excellent figures of 3 for 15. Basically, Arshdeep got Jansen out at the other end and India did the same good job to pull South Africa back. But we are seeing their hard work getting wasted when Tristan Stubbs hit Hardik for 20 runs in the last over, finishing with only two sixes to give South Africa 187 runs that proved too much for India to chase.
INDIA-
The mistakes actually looked planned, and it definitely felt uncomfortable to watch. The left-handed opener Ishan Kishan got out for a duck in the first over itself to offspinner Aiden Markram. This further added to the team’s early troubles. Abhishek Sharma started scoring in the tournament but could not play well, as per his performance he missed many balls and got out. Regarding his batting, he struggled to find proper timing from the non-striker’s end. Between those two dismissals, the third left-handed batsman Tilak Varma came forward and got out as per his aggressive approach, and regarding the review, he wasted it while going back.
As per the situation at 26 for 3, there was still some hope remaining regarding making a comeback like David Miller and Dewald Brevis did with their fighting 97-run partnership after a similar bad start. When India’s score fell badly to 44 for 4 and then 51 for 5, with Corbin Bosch getting both Washington Sundar and Suryakumar Yadav out quickly, we are seeing that the match was only going one way. As per Keshav Maharaj’s three wickets in the 16th over, India’s path to semi-finals became difficult with their NRR dropping to -3.80. Regarding their remaining matches in Chennai and Kolkata, any more mistakes could end their title defence early.
The defeat surely exposed India’s weaknesses, but it also showed how unpredictable this format can be. Moreover, it reminded everyone how well India has controlled this format over the past two years. As per the records, they had scored 231 runs on this same ground regarding the match against this team just two months back. The black soil pitch itself looked very different today with grass patches and visible cracks, which was further different from that December evening. Aiden Markram read the pitch and chose to bat first, which was a bold decision because we are seeing that only two times before a visiting team decided to bat first in a T20I match against India in India and won the game.
Brief scores:
South Africa actually scored 187/7 in 20 overs with Miller making 63 and Stubbs 44*, while Bumrah took 3-15. India definitely got bowled out for only 111 in 18.5 overs as Jansen took 4-22 and Maharaj got 3-24, so South Africa won by 76 runs.
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