India vs South Africa, 3rd T20I, 2022-23: Rille Rossouw's 100 off 48, Quinton de Kock's 68 and Keshav Maharaj's 2-34 and top performances. South Africa beat India by 49 runs in 3rd T20I.
Brief Scores: South Africa 227/3 (Rossouw 100*, Quinton de Kock 68) beat India 178 (Karthik 46, Deepak Chahar 31, Pretorius 3-26) by 49 runs
Player of the Match: Rilee Rossouw – 100* (48)
Player of the Series: Suryakumar Yadav - 119 Runs
A new look India took on the Proteas in the final game of the T20I series at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. The home team led by Rohit Sharma rested lot of their first-choice players in this dead rubber having already won the series.
South Africa completely outplayed the hosts in all departments of the game and eventually won the game by 49 runs but India won the series 2-1.
The major talking point when it comes to this fixture has to be India’s ploy to play with only 5 specialist batters. Rishabh Pant opened the innings while another wicketkeeper batter in the side, Dinesh Karthik came in at 4, not at his usual position of number 7. The balance of the side was changed drastically and it had a decisive effect on the result as India were never in the contest chasing a mighty 228.
Other positive in an otherwise disappointing game for the hosts was the performance of Mohammed Siraj in death overs. Though he went for 44 runs, his bowling in his last two overs was noteworthy. The pacer was able to nail his yorkers at will and it augurs well for Team India. Also, Deepak Chahar’s start with the ball is an encouraging sign for the team. The pacer gave away only 24 runs off his first three overs and only his last over spoiled the returns. Also, his batting ability in the backend cannot go unnoticed. Even in this game, Chahar made a useful 31 off 17 balls.
Rilee Rossouw carnage stops India effect a whitewash in the T20I series
India won the toss and opted to bowl first. They got Temba Bavuma cheaply once again but poor ground fielding and dropped catches dented the team in a big way. Rilee Rossouw was a beneficiary and took advantage of India’s lapses. He was dropped when on 24 and that hurt India as he first scored a half-century in 27 balls, and then smashed his maiden T20I century off 48 deliveries.
Rossouw was involved in a 90-run stand with Quinton de Kock (68 from 43) who scored his 2nd consecutive half-century in the series and a 41-ball 87 with Tristan Stubbs as South Africa piled up a massive 227/3 on a belter of a surface in Indore.
India lost their skipper Rohit Sharma for a duck in the very first over in a 228-run chase and all seemed lost when Shreyas Iyer too fell in the second over. Pant, on his birthday, gave glimpses of his batting prowess in his brief 14-ball stay at the crease making 27. India made 64 runs in the powerplays but lost 3 wickets.
The hosts continued their positive approach with Dinesh Karthik making a whirlwind 46 off 21 balls but it came at a cost as India lost heaps of wickets in the middle overs. Though the run rate was close to 10 per over throughout, the chase was always beyond India’s reach as the Bavuma-led side won by a massive 49 runs. Dwaine Pretorius picked 3/26, while Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj and Wayne Parnell took two wickets each.
Let’s analyse the top three performances from the 3rd T20I between India vs South Africa.
Rilee Rossouw announces his international return with a brilliant century (100* from 48)
Twice in 2 games, a South African batter notched up his century and this time it was the left-hand batter Rilee Rossouw. Rilee, who is returning to the side couldn’t contribute much in the past 2 games and would have been in pressure going into this game.
Known to be a fierce striker of the ball, Rilee blasted right from the start smashing the Indian bowlers all over the park. Dropped while on 24, he made them pay scoring his first T20I century in 48 balls and this included 8 maximums.
Read More: Ind vs SA, 2nd T20I, 2022-23: Surya's whirlwind 61* helps India win 1st home T20I series against SA
Quinton de Kock continues his sparkling form scoring a 43-ball 68
The wicket-keeper batter after scoring just 1 in the first game, played a great supporting cast to David Miller’s breath-taking century and continued the same vein of form in the 3rd T20I as well. Losing Bavuma early, Quinton de Kock along with Rilee ensured no further hiccups as they laid a foundation for South Africa’s mammoth total of 227 with their strong 48-ball 90 run stand.
De Kock’s form going into the World Cup promises to be crucial for the Proteas as he is one of the players who can take the game away from the opposition when in full flow.
Read More: Ind vs SA, 1st T20I, 2022-23: Chahar, Arshdeep rattle SA, Surya scores another fifty; India 1-0 up
Keshav Maharaj halts India’s positive approach in the run-chase taking 2/34
India’s wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik was going great guns after the loss of early wickets. Along with Pant, Karthik smashed 39 runs in the last 2 overs of the powerplay. When spinner Keshav Maharaj came into the attack after the first 6 overs, Karthik immediately welcomed him scoring 2 sixes, but the former had the last laugh as he sent back Karthik on the very next ball and kept things tight in the middle overs.
It must be noted that the spinner had a decent outing in the last game as well where he returned figures of 2/24 in what was a high-scoring affair.
Read More: Ind vs Aus, 3rd T20I, 2022-23: Surya, Virat fifties help India to 4th consecutive T20I series win
What’s Next
The two sides will next lock horns in a 3-match ODI series and it starts with a day-night game on October 6 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
India will be led by Shikhar Dhawan and a completely different side will take the field on Thursday for the men in blue.
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