World T20 – warm-up: South Africa halt India’s brilliant chase to emerge on top
A brilliant chase from the Indian batsmen after South Africa put 196/9 on the board, went in vain as the Proteas registered a four-run win in their last warm-up match of the World T20 at Mumbai. Dhawan and Raina scored 73 and 41 respectively before retiring out to give a chance to others.
Brief Scores: South Africa 196/9 in 20 overs (J P Duminy 67(44), Quinton de Kock 56*(33), Pandya 3/36) beat India 192/5 in 20 overs (Dhawan 73*(53), Raina 41*(26), Tahir 1/25) by three runs
A convincing 45-run victory over West Indies in the first warm-up match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata had helped India continue their good run from the Asia Cup, and M S Dhoni’men travelled to Mumbai hoping for much of the same as they took on South Africa in their second warm-up match.
Chasing 197, the Men in Blue got off to a bad start losing two important wickets in the initial overs. Rohit Sharma, who scored 98 in the last warm-up match against Bangladesh, and Virat Kohli were back in the pavilion within 15 balls as the Proteas swamped all over the Indian batting. Kyle Abbott trapped Rohit in front of the stumps for 10, while Dale Steyn accounted for Kohli who was caught by keeper Quinton de Kock.
Dhawan started rebuilding the innings with Rahane as the pair put on runs at a fast clip to take India to 47 runs at the end of six overs. But in the seventh over, Rahane was bowled by Imran Tahir to let India slip to 48/3.
But Dhawan struck a partnership with T20 specialist Suresh Raina to amass 90 runs in the next nine overs to take India to 137 by the 15th over. Wiese, in particular, bore the brunt in the 13th over as Dhawan carted him for a six before Raina sent him across and over the boundary for a total of 18 runs.
With 60 runs needed off 5 overs, Kyle Abbott was brought back into the attack, and he responded with a measly over giving away only five runs. Dhawan and Raina opted to retire after scoring 73 and 41 respectively in after the 16th over, welcoming Dhoni and Yuvraj to chase down the remaining runs.
The Indian skipper looked in good nick as he smashed Morris and Steyn to the boundary in consecutive overs to take India closer to the target. Morris and Steyn conceded 12 and 15 runs in the 17th and 18th over respectively to leave the Men in Blue a target of 28 from the last twelve balls.
Yuvraj, who was playing second fiddle while Dhoni was going big guns, chipped in with a four and a six in the penultimate over to cut down the target to 14. Chris Morris came in for the last over and kept the Indian captain quiet with a dot ball and single. Yuvraj took two off the third delivery and a single off the fourth to bring the skipper back on strike. Dhoni smashed the penultimate delivery to the ropes and a wide off the next delivery left India needing five off the last ball. However, Morris bowled a good delivery to keep the last ball to one to guide his team to a three-run win.
Earlier, South African skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and decided to make first use of the batting-friendly conditions at the Wankhede. However, the Proteas’ innings got off to a terrible start losing opener Hashim Amla and skipper Faf du Plessis within the first four overs. Bumrah found an edge off Amla in the second over and carefully deposited it in the gloves of Dhoni to strike the first blow. Mohammed Shami followed the lead of Bumrah and sent back the South African skipper for 12 with Jadeja taking the catch.
Even though wickets were falling at the other end, Quinton de Kock kept the scoreboard ticking at more than eight runs an over by taking the attack to the Indian bowlers. De Kock was joined by J P Duminy after the departure of du Plessis, and both left-handers wreaked havoc for the next eight overs scoring 77 off 49 balls. After scoring 56 off 33 balls, which included 7 fours and two sixes, de Kock decided to retire from the innings to give a chance to other batsmen.
David Miller was the next in line, as South Africa replaced one left-hander with another. The scoring rate continued to rise with Miller looking in a hurry smashing the part-time spin of Raina for a six and four off consecutive balls. Pandya removed Miller shortly, but the scoring rate remained the same with another left-hander Rossouw picking up the baton.
The search for quick runs also meant chances for Indian bowlers to take a few wickets, and Pandya made the most of it by removing three. Duminy scored 67 off 44 balls and smashed 3 sixes and six fours to take his team near the 200-mark before Mohammad Shami removed the batsman with Jadeja taking the catch in the last over. The Proteas finished their innings at 196/9 in 20 overs to set the home side a daunting target to chase. Bumrah suffered the most of the brunt from the South Afican batsmen going for 51 in four overs.