South Africa’s stunning swings in form continued as they followed up their dominant display in Mullanpur with a dismal outing at Dharamshala, slumping to a seven-wicket defeat against a motivated India in the third T20I on Sunday.
Asked to bat, South Africa never got going, failing to settle against a formidable bowling attack. The visitors kept losing wickets regularly at one end, but captain Aiden Markram stood firm, producing a resolute innings of 61 off 46 balls. His knock was the backbone of the South African effort, helping them crawl to 117 before being bowled out.
India’s bowling attack was quite threatening. Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh struck at crucial moments. While Varun Chakaravarthy tightened the screws through the middle overs. Kuldeep Yadav did the damage in the end. Each of the four bowlers finished with two wickets.
In reply, India made light work of the modest target. Openers Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill came out with positive intent, immediately putting the South African bowlers under pressure. Abhishek’s brisk 35 set the tone before he departed, having done the early damage. Gill contributed 28 off 28. In the middle, Tilak Varma played a vital role, chipping in with a firm 26 unbeaten as India reached the target in 15.5 overs.