India ended the South African tour with a thrilling 7 runs win in the third T20I played at Newlands, Cape Town just finished a few moments ago. South African captain JP Duminy won the toss and elected to field. Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan played crucial knocks, helped by cameos by Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik helped team India post 172 for 7 in 20 overs. While chasing, South Africa struggled in the initial overs. Jonker played an important knock but hosts fell short by just 7 runs.
South African captain JP Duminy won the toss and invited India into bat. In today’s match, Virat Kohli could not play due to a stiff back. Indian stand-in Captain Rohit Sharma failed again today as he was dismissed by Junior Dala for 11. Suresh Raina came to the crease and looked positive from the word go. At the end of six overs, India scored 57 runs for 1. Shikhar Dhawan struggled to hit big shots. Both Raina and Dhawan added 65 runs for the second wicket. Raina was dismissed for well-made 43 off 27 balls.
Manish Pandey made 13 runs and could not score big runs. Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for 47. Hardik Pandya came ahead of MS Dhoni, made 21 off 17 balls. MS Dhoni scored 12 off 11 while Dinesh Karthik scored quick fire 13 off 6 balls. Men in Blue posted 172 for 7 in 20 overs.
Junior Dala was the pick of bowlers for South Africa taking 3 wickets. While chasing 173, South African innings got off to a worse start losing the wicket of Reza Hendricks for 7 runs. The Indian bowlers did not allow South African batsmen to score runs with ease. At the end of first six overs, South Africa scored only just 25 runs.
David Miller was dismissed by Suresh Raina for 24 off 23 balls. Klassen could not do the magic from the last match. The South African captain JP Duminy reached his half-century off 38 balls and was dismissed for 55. In the 17th over, South Africa was struggling at 114 for 5, Jonker smashed Shardul Thakur and Jasprit Bumrah. With 19 runs in the last over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a brilliant over. Jonker was dismissed off the last ball for 49. India won the match by 7 runs and won the series 2-1.
India 172 for 7 in 20 overs ( Shikhar Dhawan 47, Suresh Raina 43, Junior Dala 3/35, Chris Morris 2/43) beat
South Africa 165 for 6 in 20 overs ( JP Duminy 55, Jonker 49, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/24) by 7 runs.
Indian stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said: We were 15 runs short. I thought it was a decent score and bowlers did the job for us. The idea was to keep stump to stump and kept tight in the first six overs. We will take these limited overs format, in the entire series we played with a lot of aggression. This is the reason we stand as winners here.
South African stand-in captain JP Duminy said: Indian bowlers showed great control in the first six overs and we could not get boundaries. I thought 170 was changeable. I am proud of the way we fought in the especially from Jonker. All credit to India for their limited overs format performances in South Africa.
Man of the match Raina said: Thanks to Virat and Ravi Bhai they me the license to hit big shots. The atmosphere in the dressing room is so calm. In the last two months, we have performed as a unit and no team has done it in a long time.
Man of the series Bhuvneshwar Kumar said: I really enjoyed this tour. I was very happy with my preparation. It is important not to give many runs in the first six overs. Thanks to IPL, it has made me a better bowler. In India, I don’t get these type of wickets and enjoyed it.
India won the ODI series 5-1 and T20I series 2-1. It was a great performance by Men in Blue to dominate South Africa in South Africa in limited overs format.