Piyush M Padwale
India is back on track after winning the third game in the five match T20I matches against South Africa on Sunday, 14th December, in Dharamshala after suffering a loss in the second match.
Deciding to chase first, they were able to limit South Africa to a total of 117 runs. This was aided with a seam-friendly pitch, which played in India’s favor.
There was a solid 61 from South African batsman Aiden Markram, while the others fell cheaply.
Among the wickets, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy took two wickets each, while Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube picked a wicket each.
This incredible showcase of bowling further reduced the pressure on the batsman and made it clear from the outset that this in no way can threaten the chase for the Indian camp.
India’s chase was very comfortable; they managed to achieve the target right before the 16th over.
The opening pair of Abishek Sharma and Shubman Gill carried the chase to a wonderful 60-run partnership before Sharma departed after scoring a power-packed 35 off 18 balls, scoring 3 fours and 3 sixes in the process.
A few overs later, Marco Jansen cleaned up Shubman Gill and dismissed for a run-a-ball 28, with 5 fours in his innings.
Tilak Varma continued his form and left his contribution of an unbeaten 26 off 34. The skipper Suryakumar Yadav joined the contribution act with 12 runs until being caught by Ottneil Baartman off Lungi Ngidi.
Shivam Dube finishes the match in style, hitting a six and four to finish it. The series is level now for both sides.
Arshdeep Singh earned the Player of the Match for his impressive 2/13.
The remaining two matches will be Lucknow and Ahmedabad on December 17 and December 20.
South Africa is in desperate need to get a hold on this series, or else it might cause continuing their losing streak after the ODI series.