Twitter Reactions: All-round India thrash South Africa to stay alive in series

Indian openers Gaikwad and Kishan struck half-centuries each to give their side a terrific start in the game.

By Vaishnavi Thiagarajan Iyer

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India. (Photo Source: BCCI)

The third T20I of the five-match series between India and South Africa witnessed the hosts finally grabbing their first victory of the series, after losing two games on the trot. The match, hosted by Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, saw the Indian side overpowering the Proteas men and getting back into form to bag a 48 run victory.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan went bonkers against South Africa in the powerplay scoring 57 runs in the first six overs. Gaikwad’s onslaught was aimed at Anrich Nortje, as he smashed him for five boundaries in a single over to give his side a positive end to the Powerplay. He also batted effectively against spinners, playing confident strokes and reaching his maiden international half-century.

Gaikwad (57 off 35) was hoping to keep batting in the same manner but fell prey to Keshav Maharaj. But India ended the first half of the innings comfortably positioned at 97/1. The first breakthrough slid the game towards the visitors as wickets kept falling at regular intervals from thereon. Kishan (54 off 35) managed to bring up his half-century before being dismissed by Dwaine Pretorius.

Shreyas Iyer (14 off 11) and Rishabh Pant (6 off 8) could not make their bats talk and had to walk back to the pavilion early. Similar was the case with Dinesh Karthik (6 off 8), who failed to play the finisher’s role. It was Hardik Pandya (31* off 21) who added the magic in the game towards the end and helped India finish at 179/5. As for South Africa, Pretorius scalped two wickets, whereas Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Keshav Maharaj picked one wicket each.

Indian bowlers bounce back stronger to provide their team with the critical win

South Africa started off their chase on a high note as Reeza Hendricks hit Avesh Khan for two boundaries in the second over of the chase, thereby taking the tally to 10 runs. Axar Patel opened the account with a wicket in the fourth over as he dismissed skipper Temba Bavuma (8 off 10). On the other hand, Harshal Patel scalped Hendricks (23 off 20) on the final delivery of the powerplay as the visitors ended up scoring 38/2 after six overs.

Chahal struck twice within two overs and removed Rassie van der Dussen (1 off 4) and Pretorius (20 off 16) in order to give India a grip over the game. The visitors failed to gain momentum in the game as Harshal Patel and Chahal’s destruction continued and the two finished their spell taking four and three wickets respectively. The experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar went wicketless for his first three overs but managed to add a wicket under his belt in his fourth over.

India won the contest by 48 runs to by dishing out the opposition for just 131 runs in 19.1 overs. The Men in Blue broke South Africa’s victory trot and kept their hopes of winning the series alive.

Let’s look at how Twitter reacted to India’s win: 

 

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