Picture : Twitter/ ICC
In a much awaited encounter between India and South Africa at the pace and bouncy track at Pert, It was was the Proteas who came out on top with a superb 5 wicket win over India in a rather low scoring encounter.
India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first . The South African pace attack was too hot to handle from the start – Lungi Ngidi was the wrecker- in chief with four wickets. He was supported well by Kagiso Rabada, Wayne Parnell, and Anrich Nortje bend his back to bowl at 151 kms. Some serious pace . Skipper Rohit Sharma fell for ( 15), K L Rahul’s horror run continued . A third successive failure at the top out for 9 . K L Rahul’ place in the line- up now looks uncertain against Bangladesh.
In- form Virat Kohli showed promise but holed out for 12 . Hardik Pandya fell for 2. Dinesh Karthik hardly looked settled out for 6. Had it not for Surya Kumar Yadav who stroked a fine 68 40 balls, 6 fours, 3 sixes) , India total would have been in absolute tatters. Deepak Hooda brought in to strengthen batting was out for ( 0). India Innings read below par 133 / 9 in their 20 overs.
The Proteas were red hot with their pace attack and the figures showed all : Wayne Parnell 3/15 ( 4 overs), Lungi Ngidi 4/ 29 ( 4 overs) , Anrich Nortje 1/ 23 ( 4 overs), Keshav Maharaj 0/28 ( 3 overs) , Kagiso Rabada 0/26 ( 4 overs) , Aiden Markram0/ 5 ( 1 over)
In reply The Proteas were jolted early as they lost two wickets in the second over to Arshdeep Singh, Who bagged both Quinton De Kock ( 1) and in- from Rilee Rossouw (0) . Skipper Temba Bavuma fell for ( 10) , But Aiden Markram steadied the innings with a fine fifty . A superb counter- attacking innings 52 ( 41 balls, 6 fours, 1 six), the experienced David Miller was till the end and hit the winning runs for South Africa. Miller was slow to begin with but hung on to play fabulous unbeaten innings of 59 ( 46 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes) , Wayne Parnell not out 2 along with Miller saw the Proteas home by 5 wickets. India would rue some missed chances in the field , Virat Kohli dropped a catch and Rohit Sharma missed a clear run-out chance . Summing up India’s day . South Africa reaching 137/ 5 in 19.4 overs.
For India , Arshdeep Singh 2/ 25 ( 4 overs), Mohammed Shami 1/ 13 ( 4 overs), Hardik Pandya 1/ 29 ( 4 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin was expensive 1/ 43 ( 4 overs) , Bhuvneshwar Kumar 0/21 ( 3.4 overs)
Undefeated South Africa go on top of the Group 2 table 🌟#T20WorldCup Standings 👉 https://t.co/cjmWWRz68E pic.twitter.com/A4cpQMRgnP
— ICC (@ICC) October 30, 2022
The table scenario now sees South Africa (5 points 3 games) on top of group 2, India (4 points from 2 games) with upcoming matches against Bangladesh (Nov 2 in Adelaide) and Zimbabwe (Nov 6 in Melbourne) are well within striking distance of a semi-final berth.
