The flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav played the best knock of his short international career but South Africa exposed India’s inadequacies against extreme pace and bounce to win a low-scoring thriller by five wickets in the T20 World Cup on Sunday.
While Surya’s 68 off 40 balls will easily qualify as one of the most accomplished knocks in adverse conditions, India’s defence of a below-par total of 133 for 9 was always going to be a challenge.
Arshdeep Singh, the lion-hearted left-armer, did bowl another dream first spell but Aiden Markram (52 off 41 balls) and David Miller (59 not out off 46 balls), one of the best T20 finishers in the game, ensured the target was achieved in 19.4 overs.
There were several other occasions when the Indian fielders were found wanting in the deep as the duo of Markram and David Miller stole doubles.
Speaking after the end of the match Rohit Sharma accepted that it was a dismal performance in the field from his team.
“We were a little poor in the field, we gave so many chances and we weren't clinical. We were just not good enough. The last two games, we were pretty good in the field. We couldn't hold our chances, we missed a few run-outs. We need to keep our heads high and take a learning from this game,” Rohit said.
He also said explained why he gave Ashwin the 18th over of the innings.
"I have seen what happened at the last with the spinners. So I wanted to finish with Ashwin before the last over. I wanted to see that the seamers bowl the right overs. Given the new batter came in, it was the perfect time for Ashwin to bowl," Rohit explained.
“We expected that the pitch will have something in it. We knew that there'll be a lot of help for the seamers, that's why it wasn't an easy target to chase. We fell a little short with the bat. We fought well, but South Africa were better today. When you see that score (40/3 in 10), you'll always think you're in the game. That was a match-winning partnership from Markram and Miller,” Rohit concluded.
While South Africa (5 points 3 games) are now on top of group 2, India (4 points from 2 games) with upcoming matches against Bangladesh (Nov 2 in Adelaide) and Zimbabwe (Nov 6 in Melbourne) are well within striking distance of a semi-final berth.
The team that may pay the price for India’s defeat is Pakistan, who now have an uphill task at hand.
