A huge win for the Indian team against South Africa to level the series with one match to play. Rishabh Pant and his team have now won two back-to-back matches in a grand fashion. India defeated South Africa by 82 runs, their largest T20I victory over the Proteas.The visiting team were bowled out for 87, and they registered their lowest total in T20 cricket.
The Indian bowlers, once again, were up to the mark and bowled in tight channels. They kept the pressure from the very first over and didn’t allow the South African batsmen to feel free in the middle. As a result, the home team registered a huge win. Avesh Khan was the pick of the bowlers who took four wickets.
Coming into this game, Avesh didn’t have any wickets so far in his first three matches. Many people doubted his inclusion in the playing XI. But today, he proved everyone wrong and registered his career-best figure of 4/18. Chahal also bounced well and ended with a figure of 2/21.
Earlier in the first innings, Temba Bavuma won his fourth successive toss and elected to bowl first. India had a pretty bad start and they lost their first three wickets for 40 runs in 6.1 overs. Skipper Pant failed once again and scored only 17 runs off 23 runs. At one stage, it looked like India would only get around 130.
But the cameos from Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik just brought India back to the game. The all-rounder scored 46 off 32 balls and Karthik scored his maiden half-century. He ended up on 55 off 27 balls. They helped India reach a competitive target of 169/6.
The series is level at 2-2 and the final match will take place on Sunday in Bangalore.