A strong bowling effort helps India bundle out South Africa for just 117 before opener Abhishek Sharma’s 18-ball 35 guides hosts to a commanding 7-wicket win with 25 balls to spare; SKY & Co go 2-1 up in five-match T20I series
India pacer Arshdeep Singh (centre) celebrates after dismissing SA opener Reeza Hendricks (second from right) in Dharamsala on Sunday. Pics/BCCI
India’s pacers produced a mesmerising spell of swing bowling as the hosts thrashed South Africa by seven wickets with 25 balls to spare in the third T20I to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series here on Sunday.
Solid opening stand
India chased the modest 118-run target in just 15.5 overs, thanks to a 60-run stand for the opening wicket between Shubman Gill (28 off 28 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (18 off 35 balls). Tilak Varma contributed 25 not out off 34 balls. Pacers Marco Jansen (1-24), Lungi Ngidi (1-23) and Corbin Bosch (1-18) claimed one wicket each for the visitors.
Opener Abhishek Sharma during his 18-ball 35 on Sunday
Earlier, India bundled out the Proteas for a below-par 117. Leading India’s show with early wickets were Arshdeep Singh (2-13), Harshit Rana (2-34) and Hardik Pandya (1-23) after the hosts chose to bowl.
Skipper Aiden Markram offered the lone spark for South Africa with a spirited 46-ball 61.
Arshdeep, who had a horror outing at Mullanpur a couple of days back, redeemed himself with a dream first spell (3-0-9-1).
South Africa suddenly found themselves at 7-3 in 3.1 overs, and it was always going to be an uphill climb for them from there. Markram crunched a couple of sweet drives in between to keep the board moving, but Tristan Stubbs and Corbin Bosch departed in quick succession to further derail South African innings.
Bumrah returns home
Jasprit Bumrah did not play this match after returning home to attend to a personal situation.
The BCCI said his availability for the remainder of the series will be announced in due course.
Spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2-11 in four overs) too reached a milestone, capturing his 50th T20I wicket while flattening the stumps of Donovan Ferreira (20).
One
Hardik is the only pacer to claim 100 T20I wickets and score 1000-plus runs
117
Lowest total South Africa have been bowled out for in T20Is against India when batting first
Brief scores
SA 117 all out in 20 overs (A Markram 61; V Chakravarthy 2-11, K Yadav 2-12, A Singh 2-13, H Rana 2-34) lost to India 120-3 in 15.5 overs (A Sharma 35) by seven wickets
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