SPORTMATTERS • RACING • CRICKET • SOCCER INDIA EDGE PROTEAS
INDIA – even without their irrepressible captain Virat Kohli – brought the curtain down on a glorious tour of South Africa yesterday evening in thrilling fashion.
Back where it all started under the watch of Table Mountain seven weeks ago, India won by seven runs to claim the T20 series 2-1, to head home with two of three trophies on offer.
The fact that Kohli, who missed the Newlands finale with a lower back injury, also led his team to victory in the final Test at the Wanderers ensured the tourists have enjoyed their most profitable trip to Africa yet.
Twenty20 matches’ are often decided by how the powerplay unfolds.
Last night was the perfect example. Despite the impressive Junior Dala (3-35) having pinned India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma lbw with the ninth ball of the innings, the visitors still stormed to 57-1 after the completion of the sixth over.
The impressive Suresh Raina (43 off 27 balls, 5x4, 1x6) and Shikhar Dhawan (47 off 40 balls, 3x4) were destroyers-inchief with the two southpaws sharing a 65 run partnership for the second wicket.
In contrast, South Africa’s batting powerplay was a disaster. With Jon-jon Smuts left out of the side for debutant Christiaan Jonker, the Proteas opted to promote the out-ofform David Miller to the top of the order.
Although Reeza Hendricks’s early dismissal did not help matters, it was unforgivable that South Africa limped to 25-1 when the fielding restrictions came to a close.
This was primarily due to Miller not being able to find the middle of his swinging blade.
The powerful left-hander looked terribly out-of-sorts, and although he eventually took his strike-rate to just above 100 when he eventually held out to Axar Patel on the boundary off Suresh Raina for 24 off 23 balls, the national selectors will need to go away and ponder whether Miller is indeed the man to move forward.
There certainly is a new group of contenders putting their hands up. Heinrich Klaasen has already showed what he can do throughout the summer, but now Jonker too has thrown his name in the middle-order hat.
T20 captain JP Duminy (55 off 41 balls, 2x4, 3x6) is certainly back in form after striking a second consecutive Tird T20 International Newlands, cape town
Toss: South Africa
India innings
R Sharma lbw Dala .................................. 11 S Dhawan run out (Dala) ......................... 47 S Raina c Behardien b Shamsi ............... 43 M Pandey c Miller b Dala ........................ 13 H Pandya c Klaasen b Morris .................. 21 MS Dhoni c Miller b Dala ........................ 12 D Karthik lbw Morris ................................ 13 A Patel not out ........................................... 1 B Kumar not out ........................................ 3 Extras (lb 2, nb 1, w 5) ............................. 8 Total (for 7 wickets; 20 overs) ............... 172 Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-79, 3-111, 4-126, 5-151, 6-163, 7-168
Bowling: C Morris 4-0-43-2;
J Dala 4-0-35-3; JP Duminy 3-0-22-0; A Phehlukwayo 3-0-26-0;
T Shamsi 4-0-31-1; A Phangiso 2-0-13-0
South Africa innings R Hendricks c Dhawan b Kumar .............. 7 D Miller c Patel b Raina ........................... 24 JP Duminy c Sharma b Thakur .............. 55 H Klaasen c Kumar b Pandya ................... 7 C Jonker c Sharma b Kumar .................. 49 C Morris b Bumrah .................................... 4 F Behardien not out ................................ 15 Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 2) ............................... 4 Total (for 6 wickets; 20 overs) ............... 165 Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-45, 3-79, 4-109, 5-114, 6-165
Bowling: B Kumar 4-0-24-2;
J Bumrah 4-0-39; S Thakur 4-0-35-1; H Pandya 4-0-22-1; S Raina 3-0-27-1; A Patel 1-0-16-0
Result: India won by 7 runs Player Of The Match: Suresh Raina
Player Of The Series: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
half-century that kept the home team’s fire burning.
Jonker fed off his skipper’s resolve and played with a great deal of freedom. The Warriors hit-man timed the ball sweetly from the moment he came to crease and had the capacity Newlands crowd on their feet until the very end.
A blistering 49 off just 24 balls (5x4, 2x6) almost stole the match – and series – from the gaping jaws of defeat, as he reduced the run-rate from close to 15 runs an over to just 12 runs required off three balls.
But that is when India’s unsung hero of the tour Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept his nerve when it mattered most. Having scuppered South Africa’s chances with both and bat across formats, Kumar stepped up once more to close out the game for his team with a couple of accurate yorkers.
He richly deserved the Man of the Series award that came his way.
Unlike the dismal ODI series South Africa have a few positive to take from the T20 clashes, but it is India who will leave Newlands with the biggest smiles.
Meanwhile, in Benoni Australia started their South African tour well as they beat South Africa A by five wickets in their three-day fixture which finished at Willowmoore Park yesterday.