India bowled brilliantly against South Africa in the third T20I at Dharamsala on Sunday, December 14, utterly dominating the Proteas and restricting them to 25/3 in the powerplay. Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh led the onslaught, and the South African batters struggled from the beginning.
It was Arshdeep Singh who started the attack and applied pressure immediately. He sent down two outswingers in his first two balls before finding Reeza Hendricks on the pads with an in-dipping delivery from his fourth ball. Hendricks got the line wrong as the left-arm seamer set the tone for the game picking up the first wicket for India.
Harshit Rana bowled Quinton de Kock with his second ball, one that nipped sharply back off a length from round the wicket to beat the batsman’s defence. De Kock, who had hit a scintillating 90 in the second T20I, could not replicate his heroics on this occasion.
Rana reappeared for his second over of the innings, dismissing Dewald Brevis, one of South Africa’s most threatening batsmen. Brevis tried to drive off a delivery placed outside off stump, but the inside edge bounced onto the leg stump. Rana’s joy echoed India’s domination, as the Men in Blue bowlers thoroughly outclassed the visitors in the first few overs, putting India in command.
A number of records tumbled in India thumping T20I win against South Africa in the third T20I at Dharamsala some unwanted ones included. Reeza Hendricks registered his eighth duck in T20Is to equal Andile Phehlukwayo’s record for South Africa. Arshdeep Singh led in the T20I powerplay wickets tally, exceeding Bhuvneshwar Kumar with 48.
Hardik Pandya claimed his 100th T20I wicket, becoming the first seamer in men’s T20Is to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets. For India, Varun Chakravarthy took his 50th T20I wicket in the format in only 32 games and became the fourth quickest spinner in terms of balls bowled to do so (672).
The five-match T20I series is levelled at 1-1. A good half-century from Pandya and a team effort by the bowlers won India the opening Twenty20 International. South Africa bounced back in the next game with Quinton de Kock slamming fifty to take his team past 200 and India fumbling while chasing.
With the series tied at 1-1, India will now hope to take the lead in the third T20I on Sunday after building on their strong bowling display, where they reduced Australia to 14 after seven powerplay overs, and then carried that momentum forward with the bat.
