India ticked all the boxes as they beat South Africa by 48 runs to win the third T20 International to survive the five-match series in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. Yuzvendra Chahali (3/20) and Harshal Patel (4/25) led with the ball after half-centuries from Ruturaj Gaikwadi (57) and Ishaan Kishan (54) took India to 179 for five. Opener Gaikwad played a fine knock as Ishaan scored his second half-century of the series, which was followed by a decent performance by the bowlers.
To make up for his poor form of late, Gaikwad hit two boundaries and seven boundaries in his 35-ball knock, and Ishaan also scored his own runs in 35 balls when he was asked to take the first strike.
defending total, captain Rishabh Pant Introduced the spinners early and Akshar Patel Produced first success with fuller delivery Temba Bavuma (8) hidden out to Avesh Khan In the fourth over.
Chahal rewarded for bowling fast as he got extra bounce off the wicket Rossi van der Dussen (1), dwayne pretorius (20) and Heinrich Klaasen (29).
Harshal mixes his balls well to remove first Reeza Hendrix (23) and David Miller (3) and then returned to end things with the wickets of Kagiso Rabada (9) and Tabrez Shamsi (0) as South Africa were bundled out for 131 runs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/21) also bowled very heartily.
Earlier, Gaikwad and Ishaan hit two sixes each and shared 12 boundaries to set the stage but South Africa tightened the screws in the second half to keep India within 180.
It was Gaikwad who went on the offensive after a careful start and exploded in the fifth over with five consecutive boundaries. Enrique Nortje,
If the first one was cut with aplomb, it danced down the track for the second four. The third boundary was a lucky one as the ball hit his grill while Gaikwad tried to get away with a poor bouncer.
Gaikwad then punished Nortje for a half-volley and the fifth ball was sent across third man.
The Maharashtra batsman smashed Dwayne Pretorius at deep backward square for his second six as India posted 57 for no loss in six overs, their best powerplay in the series.
Ishaan, who was playing the second fiddle, came into action in the ninth over, smacking another boundary off Shamsi’s overpitch delivery before hitting another as 13 runs came from the over.
Gaikwad completed his fifty in 30 balls and then welcomed Keshav Maharaj Inside out lifts for a boundary, but the spinner catches it at the half stage with India for 97 for one with their own bowling.
Ishaan then gave Maharaj a special treat as he hit two fours and a six in 31 balls, his second of the series.
new man Shreyas Iyer Nortje and Shamsi looked to be in good contact with a six each but the spinner dismissed him just in time to jump to perfection for a fine catch with Nortje.
Pretorius put India back further by dismissing Ishaan, who was caught by Hendricks.
It could have been five down but David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen dropped two sitters and killed them Hardik Pandya (29) and Rishabh Pant (6).
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Temba Bavuma finally took a catch off Pretorius to dismiss Pant as South Africa took things slow.
The hosts could manage just 20 runs while Hardik Pandya lost two wickets of over 13 to 17 in the final leg before taking them to close to 180.
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