Riley Rossouves An unbeaten 48-ball 100 in the third T20 International on Tuesday (October 4) boosted morale to a 49-run victory as the concerns of the Indian bowling attack grew ahead of the T20 World Cup.
A furious Rossouw and Quinton de Kock (68 off 43) bowled out South Africa for 227 for three including Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Deepak Chahar, all leaking more than 11 runs per over.
In a high-scoring ground with small dimensions, no score is safe, but India kept losing wickets regularly and were all out for 178 in 18.2 overs. With Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the ICC event, India have a lot of work to do in the bowling department before playing their T20 World Cup opener in Melbourne on October 23.
A much needed victory for South Africa #T20World Cup #INDvSA report good https://t.co/vdpIMUsWb1— ICC (@ICC) 4 October 2022
If the ball is not swinging, then India are not able to take wickets in the powerplay and bowlers are not able to correct their length in the death overs. He was guilty of bowling too much in the last five overs on Tuesday. While it was a disappointing defeat, getting some more time in the middle for Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik was a positive for the Indian team.
Opening the innings in KL Rahul’s absence, Pant smashed his 14-ball 27, which included two brilliant straight drives and a six. This was the first time that Pant got a chance to bat in the series. With only five specialist batsmen from India playing, Karthik got the chance to bat at number four and made good use of the opportunity.
His 46 off 21 balls included four sixes, one of them being a sensational scoop from Wayne Parnell. After hitting two sixes off Keshav Maharaj, he went for a reverse hit, which he had to undo.
Chahar once again showed his mettle with the bat as he smashed an amusing innings of 31 off 17 balls. Earlier, Harshal (0/49), heading for the T20 World Cup, continued to leak a lot of runs on an unforgettable night for all the four Indian fast bowlers. Chahar, Siraj and Umesh Yadav were also killed by Rossouw and de Kock with swords.
On one belt off a pitch, South Africa got off to a strong start, reaching 48 for one in the powerplay with de Kock and Rossau in a destructive mood. His combative 90-run stand came after skipper Temba Bavuma (3) fell cheaply. Under great pressure after making two zeros, Bavuma looked completely out of touch and ended a rule foul at mid-on off the very first ball bowled by Umesh Yadav.
De Kock, who worked hard for the runs in Guwahati, returned to his best. He hit his first six with a pick-up shot on Siraj, which appeared for the first time in the series. The next six was even more delightful as he swung a wide length ball over square leg to Chahar across the stumps. In the seventh over, Rossouw hit a six off Siraj’s ball. With two left-handed batsmen, Rohit decided to hold on to Axar Patel till the 14th over.
R Ashwin, who was brought into the powerplay, hit two sixes in the ninth over. There was a brilliant reverse sweep from de Kock, before Rossouw used a conventional sweep to send the spinner to deep backward square leg. Siraj could have caught the latter but flung over the fence. India were run out against the race of the game but the South African batsmen kept aiming for big hits.
Rossouw congratulated Axar on the attack with a slog sweep that went all the way. It looked like Rossouw was hitting sixes for fun as he finished with eight of them. There was a light moment before the start of the 16th over when Chahar saw Stubbs back up at the non-striker’s end but looked like a gentle warning. In the final over of the innings, in-form David Miller smacked Chahar off the ground before collecting two more sixes. 24 runs came in this over.