Suryakumar Yadav-led India locked horns with Aiden Markram-led South Africa in the third T20I of the four-match series at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday, November 13.
Under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, the Indian National Cricket Team won the third T20I by 11 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series. The teams next meet on Friday, November 15 at The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
Also read: Watch: Axar Patel takes a superb catch to dismiss David Miller in 3rd T20I
India cruised to an 11-run win in a thriller
Led by Suryakumar Yadav, India lost the toss and were called to bat first in the match. They got off to a poor start as Sanju Samson bagged his second successive duck.
However, Tilak Varma and Abhishek Sharma made sure Samson’s early dismissal did not hurt India and started setting up the innings.
The duo looked unstoppable in the middle and smashed the bowlers all over the park. Tilak Varma scored an unbelievable century while Abhishek Sharma hit a brilliant fifty as India posted just 219 runs on the board.
Defending the total, India continued to pound the wickets regularly, but the batsmanship of Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen swung the momentum completely towards the Proteas. However, in the end, the Indian bowlers held their nerve and led the team to a brilliant victory.
We played the brand of cricket we wanted to play – Suryakumar Yadav
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Suryakumar Yadav said he was happy that they executed their plans very well and got the win. Suryakumar Yadav added:
“I am very happy. We are happy to implement in the game what we talked about in the team meeting today and yesterday. We played the brand of cricket we wanted to play.
“That’s what we tell them to do. Like they do for their networks, their franchises and their state. Even if they miss a few shots, they support their intentions and their games. You can tell because of the aggression and intent, it’s more than just talking.”
Suryakumar Yadav also praised his players for showing a lot of intent with the bat and making it easy.
“If you go out and take one, that’s the intention. It made my job a lot easier to watch them fight like that and I feel like we’re going in the right direction. The energy and the intention from everybody. It was the first time we were ahead for six or seven minutes.” Suryakumar Yadav added.
Suryakumar Yadav further revealed the conversation he had with Tilak Varma after the second T20I. He mentioned that Varma himself came to him and asked if he could take 3rd place in 11th place. Suryakumar Yadav also assured that the youngster will continue to bat at this point going forward.
“He (Tilak) came to my room in Ggeberha and said give me a chance number 3, I want to be good and I said go out there and express yourself. He asked for it and he delivered. I am very happy for him and his family,” Suryakumar Yadav said.
India lost their second T20I despite putting up a good fight
Despite putting up a strong fight, Suryakumar Yadav-led India were rather subdued in the second T20I, losing three wickets in just six balls.
Batting first, India’s line-up struggled to gather momentum and restricted themselves to 124/6. The centurion of the previous two matches, Sanju Samson’s stay was short as he was dismissed for a duck by Marco Jansen.
Abhishek Sharma (4 off 5) and Suryakumar Yadav (4 off 9) also departed early leaving India at 15/3. Tilak Varma provided some resistance with 20 runs for 20 balls, while Axar Patel added a valuable 27 off 21 balls before being run out in failure.
Hardik Pandya was crucial with an unbeaten 39 off 45 balls, holding the innings together as wickets continued to fall at the other end. However, his decision to deny Arshdeep Singh a couple of strikes meant that India posted fewer runs on the board. Also, Rinku Singh (9 off 11) and Arshdeep Singh (7 off 6) added small contributions, but India finished with a low score of 124.
However, India showed great spirit with the ball, especially Varun Chakravarthy, who took an amazing knock of 5 wickets and conceded just 17 runs in 4 overs. Varu’s spell kept India’s hopes alive by dismissing his key players, including Hendricks (24 off 21), Markram (3 off 8) and Miller (0 off 1). Ravi Bishnoi supported well, adding a wicket for 21 runs. Arshdeep Singh also came into play and dismissed Rickelton (11 off 13) early.
Still, Tristan Stubbs (47* off 41) along with Coetzee (19* off 9) held his nerve to push the home side over the line.
