Suryakumar, spinners deliver comfortable series-levelling win

A captain’s knock from Suryakumar Yadav and a clinical bowling performance saw India hammer South Africa by 106 runs in the third T20I against South Africa at the Wanderers, Johannesburg on Thursday (December 14). The result meant that the T20I series ended at 1-1 after the opening game was washed out due to incessant rain. The contrasting conditions of the day-night game were on display as India piled on the runs during the sunny evening and once the lights took effect, there was enough movement for the new ball bowlers apart from the turn that the spinners extracted. Regular wickets meant that South Africa were never in the chase.

Given how different the conditions turned out to be across the two innings, you’d have expected the South Africa captain to have a bat first, given the batting friendly conditions on offer. However, having chased well in the last game, you couldn’t have faulted the decision. As they say, hindsight always look good.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill got the visitors off to a flier with a flurry of boundaries in the first two overs. Debutant Nandre Burger started on an erratic note while Markram’s decision to share the new ball didn’t begin well either. India had gotten the perfect start to the innings in terms of momentum.

In his first game of the series, Keshav Maharaj made an instant impression. He got Shubman Gill LBW although the batter was unlucky with ball tracking showing it to be missing leg stump. Strangely, Gill who is trigger-happy when it comes to taking reviews, didn’t opt for one. Tilak Varma fell the very next ball as his attempts to go downtown only resulted in a miscue to mid-off. If India had landed the opening punch, South Africa had truly given an apt riposte.

India were in need of a partnership to turn things around. Jaiswal and Suryakumar provided just that. Jaiswal continued to bat with high-intent and found the boundaries while his captain took a backseat after an initial flurry. However, once he got his eye in, Suryakumar was also back to his menacing best as he plundered the bowling at will. The 13th over of the innings, bowled by Andile Phehlukwayo, went for a whopping 23 runs and it was the kind of momentum the Indian skipper was seeking to hit top gear.

The back end of India’s innings was solely about their skipper’s decimation of the bowling attack in his trademark fashion. Jaiswal fell in the bid to up the ante but that only spurred his partner to go harder. With the temptingly short square boundaries at the Wanderers, Suryakumar peppered them at will and in the process, brought up a record-equalling fourth century in T20Is. As is the case with any notable innings that he produces, this too was an exhibition of jaw-dropping strokeplay and powerhitting.

After 18 overs, India were 186/3 with Suryakumar going berserk and Rinku Singh well-set. A score in excess of 210 looked on the cards if not 215 but a flurry of wickets ensued as India eventually just limped past the 200-run mark. Burger redeemed himself a fraction with a terrific penultimate over while Lizaad Williams also backed it up with a streetsmart 20th over. Both bowlers were also helped by some outstanding ground-fielding with the catches of Suryakumar and Rinku being potential maximums on most days at this ground. India had put a solid score on the board but South Africa managed to end on a high.

Under lights, the Wanderers pitch looked a different demon from the one when India were batting. Mohammed Siraj got the ball to hoop around and bowled a maiden to start the innings, leaving Reeza Hendricks all at sea. Mukesh Kumar also started well with the movement on offer keeping both the pacers in the game.

Perhaps, it was the pressure of a big chase and the inability to start briskly, but both openers were guilty of gifting their wickets away. Breetzke went for a loose cut with no room on offer and dragged it onto the stumps while Hendricks took on Siraj’s arm with a quick single to mid-on, only to be found short with a direct hit. South Africa needed a solid platform to launch their chase but instead got a shaky beginning.

The one thing that was constant in both innings was the turn on offer for the spinners. It wasn’t extravagant but the variable bounce made it a tough ask, especially for South Africa’s batters who were tied down by Ravindra Jadeja’s accuracy and Kuldeep Yadav’s guile. Wickets fell regularly and within no time, the game was a no contest. The wrist spinner eventually helped himself to a five-wicket haul as South Africa’s batters imploded in sensational fashion. David Miller hit a few big shots but such was the nature of the implosion that there was little he could have done to take the game deep.

Brief scores:
India 201/7 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 100, Yashasvi Jaiswal 60; Keshav Maharaj 2-26) beat South Africa 95 in 13.5 overs (David Miller 35; Kuldeep Yadav 5-17, Ravindra Jadeja 2-25) by 106 runs