PERTH: South African batters David Miller and Aiden Markram smashed a half-century each to power their side to chase down the 134-run target and sealed a tense five-wicket victory over India in the Super12s fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
South Africa’s win over India exerted a major dent in Pakistan’s chances to make their way to the semi-final of the mega event despite defeating the Netherlands earlier in the second match of the tripleheader.
Set to chase 134, South Africa were off to a tense start as the side lost three wickets for just 24 runs inside the power-play.
Following the early attack launched by the Indian pacers, Markram and Miller stitched a gritty 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket and anchored the run chase.
Markram scored 52 off 41 balls with the help of six boundaries and a six before falling victim to Hardik Pandya in the 16th over.
Miller remained unaffected by Markram’s dismissal and powered his side to complete a tense final-over run chase.
He top-scored for his side with an unbeaten knock of 59 in just 46 deliveries, laced with four boundaries and three sixes.
For India, Arshdeep Singh bagged two wickets, while Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pandya struck out a batter each.
Batting first after winning the toss, India had a poor start to their innings as they lost half of the side for just 49 runs as captain Rohit Sharma (15), KL Rahul (9), Virat Kohli (12), Deepak Hooda (0) and Hardik Pandya (2) perished cheaply as right-arm pacer Lungi Ngidi wreaked havoc in his opening spell.
Following the slump, Yadav stood up for his team and embarked on recovery for his side as he stitched a fighting 52-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Dinesh Karthik.
Yadav was the main aggressor of the gritty stand and scored the majority of the runs.
Left-arm pacer Wayne Parnell then brought an end to Karthik’s struggling knock as he struck in the 16th over to provide his side with a much-needed breakthrough. The wicketkeeper batter could score six off 15 deliveries.
The Indian batting tail then crumbled against the strong South African bowling attack as their key batter Yadav, too, fell in the 19th over.
Yadav top-scored with a magnificent 68-run knock in just 40 deliveries, laced with six boundaries and three boundaries.
Ngidi led the bowling attack for South Africa courtesy of his astounding bowling figures of 4/29, while Parnell returned with 3/15.
