Congratulations South Africa – Well Played India

South Africa handed over Team India its first defeat in the T20 World Cup 2022. Through this loss, India’s shortcomings and weaknesses on both batting and fielding fronts are exposed.

On the flip side, South African bowlers showed absolute brilliance on a pitch that supported pace and bounce. Their effort resulted in South Africa’s win by 5 wickets. This victory also made Pakistan get virtually eliminated from the semifinal race. With this win, South Africa also went to the top of the table in Group 2.

South African bowlers breathed fire at Indian batters right from the beginning. Lungi Ngidi broke the top order by taking the wickets of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in quick successions. Soon, Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda also got out.

All of a sudden, India’s score was 49/5. That’s when Surya Kumar Yadav (68 off 40 balls) saved India from a disaster. He made a valuable 52-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik for the sixth wicket. Even after Karthik got out, SKY continued his superlative form. It looked like he was batting on a whole different pitch altogether. Once he got out in the 19th over, it all ended for India. Eventually, India ended its innings with a score of 133/9. Ngidi scalped four (4/29) and Wayne Parnell (3/15) got three wickets.

Just like the opponents, Indian bowlers started off well for their team. As a result, South Africa lost three wickets for just 24 runs. Young pacer Arshdeep Singh (2/25) scalped two big wickets right in his first over. However, the laugh lasted only for a while for the Indians as Aiden Markram (52) and David Miller (59* off 46 balls) settled the chase for their team.

Both of them made a partnership of 76 runs for the fourth wicket. This partnership almost ensured a victory for South Africa. Catch-drops and missed run-outs had cost India a lot. Markram got out after scoring a half-century. But it was too late already. Though Indian bowlers tried hard, they couldn’t give win for their team. Finally, David Miller scored a fifty and helped his team in scoring 137/5 in 19.4 overs.