After winning the toss and opting to bat first, India batted superbly well throughout the first half powered by the opening partnership of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. After their brilliant 74-run 1st wicket partnership, the innings wasn’t the same anymore. The early wickets of Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer hurt India’s cause. Ravindra Jadeja’s 24-ball 38 did accelerate innings a bit towards the end as they put up a total of 174/9.

In reciprocation to the target of 175, South Africa answered with utmost confidence and swiftness right from the start. They were always in the game, that was not close to being one-side until a point later in the innings. Despite Quinton de Kock’s early dismissal, South Africa carried on with Temba Bavuma(52 off 41) consolidating the chase. In the end, a strong unbeaten partnership between Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo sealed a five-wicket win for South Africa. 

To me, the turning point of the game was Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal in the 15th over. Upto that point, India were set for a higher total, at least 20 runs more on the board. But since Iyer’s dismissal, Team India could only add 35 runs whilst losing three wickets in more than five overs. 

The low of this game was Virat Kohli’s poor form. After a golden duck against England in the previous Super Sixes games, the Indian captain once again failed despite showing some promise. The openers had set the tone of India’s innings and Kohli charged right from the start scoring 13 off 5 but was dismissed by Imran Tahir on the next delivery.

At the end of the Powerplay, India were looking extremely strong on 73 for no loss. Dale Steyn was whacked all around the park by KL Rahul, who was batting on 36* off 20 at that point. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma was up and alive and attacking on 31* off 16. In the fourth over, Sharma had squeezed off 20 runs off Kagiso Rabada’s over. All in all, it was a thunderous performance by India in the first six overs.  

Despite being at an amazing position at the end of the first six overs, without losing a wicket, India’s innings took a slight hit with KL Rahul’s(36 off 21) dismissal in the seventh over. Following that, Virat Kohli’s wicket fell rather quickly and the middle order collapse saw India at a score of 141, losing seven wickets majorly to spin in nine overs, at the end of the 15th over. However, Ravindra Jadeja’s presence was a positive for India. 

At the end of the 15th over, India seemed to be under pressure due to a fantastic over by Tahir that removed Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur. Right into the first over of the death, Shamsi removed Navdeep Saini, while only giving away two runs, putting more pressure on India. The only good over that India had was the 20th over, by Rabada, wherein they were able to score 15 runs. Rest, South Africa’s death bowling, that contained the runs, was the major reason behind their victory. 

It was a well-fought T20 competition between two fully equipped teams with a great set of players. Both sides had their ups and downs but South African spinners took the game away from India. There was some superb T20 batting on both ends. Overall, a decent enough game that could’ve been a thriller.