Picture : Twitter/ BCCI
Below-par death bowling coupled with ordinary fielding and batting, except for Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer, hurt a second-string Indian team as it slumped to a nine-run defeat against South Africa in the rain-truncated first ODI of the three-match series in Lucknow on Thursday.
Opting to bowl in the rain-hit 40-over-a-side game, India started on the right note reducing South Africa to 110 for 4 in 22.4 overs before David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen hit strokeful half-centuries to guide South Africa to 249 for 4.
Down at 110 for four, Miller (75 not out off 63 balls) and Klaasen (74 not out off 65 balls) added 139 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket to take the visitors to close to 250-run mark.
Shardul Thakur was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 2/35 from eight overs.
The Indian bowlers struggled in the death overs, conceding 54 runs in the last five overs.
If that was not enough, the Indian fielders dropped as many as four catches in the outfield to help South Africa’s cause.
Chasing a stiff target of 250, Samson (86 not out off 63 balls) and Iyer (50 off 37 balls) struck fifties, while Shardul Thakur (33 off 31 balls) used the long handle to good effect towards the end but it was not enough in the end.
India endured a disastrous start to their chase, losing both Shubman Gill (3) and skipper Shikhar Dhawan (4) cheaply to be reduced to 8 for 2 inside six overs.
While Kagiso Rabada cleaned up Gill in the third over, Dhawan inside-edged one on to his stumps from a Wayne Parnell delivery in the sixth over.
Ishan Kishan and debutant Ruturaj Gaikwad then tried to stabilise the innings with a 48-run partnership for the third wicket before the latter was stumped by Quinton de Kock off the bowling of Tabraiz Shamsi as India slumped to 48 for 3 in 16.4 overs.
In the reserves for the T20 World Cup squad, Iyer helped his cause with a 37-ball 50 and together with Sanju Samson shared 67 runs for the fifth wicket to keep India in the hunt.
Iyer decorated his innings with eight hits to the fence before handing a simple catch to Rabada at mid-on off Lungi Ngidi’s bowling.
But Samson and Thakur kept India in the hunt with an attacking 93-run partnership of just 64 balls for the sixth wicket.
With India needing 45 off the last three overs, Ngidi struck twin blows, dismissing Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav in successive balls to hand South Africa the upper hand.
Needing 31 off the last over, Samson tried his best, smashing one six and three fours but to no avail.
