Indians struggle on sluggish pitch

Cape Town, Feb. 24: Shikhar Dhawan made the most of two clear catches being put down off his bat as India posted a less than impressive 172/ 7 in the third and final Twenty20 international against South Africa at Newlands on Saturday.

India lost stand- in captain Rohit Sharma early on, trapped leg before by the nippy Junior Dala after he had cashed on in a wayward opening over from Chris Morris but Suresh Raina ( 43, 27b, 5x4, 1x6) steadied the ship in a brisk 65- run second wicket stand with innings top- scorer Dhawan,

The impressive Dala was back in the action to see off Centurion T20 top- scorer Manish Pandey caught in the deep after Raina too had been taken on the boundary.

Dhawan ( 47, 40b, 3x4) made the most of his lives on a sluggish pitch to give the total some heft before he was run out on a direct hit from Dala with five overs to go.

M. S. Dhoni and Hardik Pandya threw their bats around to push the score up though India will feel they finished 15- 29 runs light.

Earlier, South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl after regular captain Virat Kohli sat out the game with a a stiff back.

Sharma said he was

happy to be batting first. “In the last two games we have had decent runs on the board. We want to end the tour on a high.”

South African captain JP Duminy said bowling first “is a formula that has worked for us”.