This Sunday, India and Afghanistan will face off in their second T20I series game. The place? Holkar Stadium in Indore. It’s been a while since the last T20I was played here. In fact, the last one was an exciting game between India and South Africa on October 4, 2022.
Do you remember that match? It was the last one in a three-game T20I series. Same as this series, it was played just before the 2022 T20 World Cup. Strong India was leading 2-0, aiming for a perfect victory. And just like then, this is India’s final series before the 2024 T20 World Cup.
But that notion was immediately dashed by the Proteas. To get things started against Mohammed Siraj in the second over, Quinton de Kock struck a six and a four. He led them to 30/0 in the fourth over.
Temba Bavuma, his partner, who was already having a bad series, was on the receiving end most of the time. On the opening ball of the fifth, Umesh Yadav, who few would have predicted to play in the series, came and got him.
That only served to improve South Africa’s situation. After recording two ducks in the previous two games, Rilee Rossouw entered the game. He appeared unsteady against a few early short balls, but he struck first with a lovely clip for four.
He simply never stopped. Riding on pure luck (having been dropped by Siraj off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin), he did not spare a soul and appeared determined to hit every ball to the boundary. With 15 hits total—seven fours and eight sixes—he reached his century in just 48 balls.
Conversely, de Kock carried out his duties. He reached a 33-ball 50 with a respectable strike rate before being run out for 68 (43). With 2,032 runs after the knock, he became South Africa’s top run scorer in Twenty20 Internationals—a record he currently maintains.
David Miller and Tristan Stubbs had two outstanding cameos from the opposite end after he was let go. The latter brilliantly took the score to 227/3 when he scorched 24 runs in the last over against Deepak Chahar.
India’s rare defeat in a home chase against South Africa
India faced a tough target but tackled it courageously. However, Kagiso Rabada’s skill saw Rohit Sharma, their captain, out without a run on the second ball of the innings.
Rishabh Pant opened the innings for this match and initially, he was successful. He hit Lungi Ngidi for two sixes and two fours early in the game. But then an uneven pitch got him and then Shreyas Iyer, both out in quick succession.
After suffering a severe twin blow, India sent Dinesh Karthik, a designated finisher and wicketkeeper-batter, ahead of Suryakumar Yadav. Even if it seems unthinkable now, the management was partially shown to be correct.
In order to give his side some hope, Karthik performed at his peak, smashing four sixes and as many boundaries (Wayne Parnell and Keshav Maharaj were key targets). However, he lost his wicket against Maharaj after failing to make a reverse scoop.
After Suryakumar, India’s batting depth was exposed by South Africa, who easily went through the middle order with Axar Patel, Ashwin, and Harshal Patel in tow.
Pacers Chahar and Umesh Yadav combined to score 48 runs from 120/8 after swinging their bats and mistiming a few more. The hosts were bowled out in the 19th over, therefore the only thing good to come out of the match was that this was India’s greatest partnership for the ninth wicket in Twenty20 Internationals.
