India managed to reach 172 for seven, despite South Africa applying the brakes, in the series-deciding third T20I here on Saturday.
Bad news hit the visitors even before the start as skipper Virat Kohli, who has been the most prolific scorer on this tour with four centuries across formats, had to miss the match due to a stiff back.
Keeping it tight
The South African bowlers, after skipper Jean-Paul Duminy chose to field, did not let the game drift.
Junior Dala continued to impress and struck early when he had stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma, who was in indifferent form on the tour, trapped in front in the second over of the match. Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina began the resurrection act, adding 65, before the latter’s stay ended.
Cameo
The southpaw had cleared the fence once and hit the ropes five times in his 43 (27b, 5x4, 1x6). But, while trying to take on Tabraiz Shamsi, he could only find Farhaan Behardien who made no mistake with the skier.
The only other significant contribution came from Dhawan, who missed out narrowly on his half-century, but still top-scored with 47.
Dala impresses again
For South Africa, Dala gave away 35 runs and added the wickets of Manish Pandey and M.S. Dhoni to that of Rohit.
Though wickets fell at regular intervals and there was no big partnership, India reached a challenging 172, with Hardik Pandya (21, 17b, 1x6) and Dinesh Karthik (13, 6b, 3x4) provding the late thrust.
India made three changes. Karthik replaced the injured Kohli while Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel came in for Jaydev Unadkat and Yuzvendra Chahal.