A Suryakumar Yadav special wasn’t enough against the collective might of South Africa at a fiery Optus Stadium surface on Sunday night.
After Lungi Ngidi (4-29) had blasted India’s top order out in next to no time in the T20 World Cup Super 12 clash, Suryakumar showcased his adaptability and nous, batting with as much authority on the juiced-up strip with pace and steepling bounce as he would on far less demanding pitches.
It was entirely on the back of his marvellous 68 that India, batting first by choice, recovered from the depths of 49 for five to post 133 for nine, hardly threatening, but not trifling either, given that India had the pace resources to make a match of it.
Early blows
Arshdeep Singh, like Suryakumar on his first tour of Australia, sent the 44,000-strong crowd into raptures when, in the second over of the chase, he accounted for Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw, the latter coming off hundreds in his last two T20I innings. Temba Bavuma’s wretched run continued as India stormed back into contention at 24-3, but South Africa had the class and experience of Aiden Markram and David Miller to fall back on.
David Miller en route his 59*
The two took their time getting their eye in, Markram playing breath-taking strokes off the back foot between deliveries that screamed past his bat and Miller giving the first half-hour to the bowlers before targeting R Ashwin with a vengeance. Their intelligent 77-run fourth-wicket partnership was the bedrock around which South Africa built their successful chase, thus surging to the top of the Group 2 table with a tense five-wicket victory, attained with just two deliveries to spare.
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Kohli puts down a sitter
India didn’t help their cause by being lackadaisical in the field. Virat Kohli, of all people, put down a sitter at deep mid-wicket to reprieve Markram off Ashwin when the batsman was 35 and in the next over, Rohit Sharma missed a clear run-out chance with Markram yards out of his ground. The right-hander didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, speeding to a wonderful half-century. Miller cut loose after the drinks break—South Africa went from 40 after 10 overs to 85 after 14—to bring up a superbly paced half-century and ensure the result was never in doubt.
Ngidi made sure earlier in the evening that his batsmen didn’t have too much to chase with a telling first burst of four for 17. Brought in for left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, he troubled India with the bounce he procured as each of Rohit, the beleaguered KL Rahul and Kohli fell to the short stuff. Suryakumar waged a wonderful battle, a nonchalant flick off Anrich Nortje and a screaming back-drive off Ngidi his standout strokes, but there was only so much one man could do.
Brief scores
India 133-9 (S Yadav 68; L Ngidi 4-29, W Parnell 3-15) lost to SA 137-5 in 19.4 overs (D Miller 59*, A Markram 52; Arshdeep 2-25) by 5 wkts
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