Super Sixes SRL | India vs South Africa Evaluation Chart - Pocket dynamite Pant pummels Proteas to submission
An outrageous cameo from Rishabh Pant's bat, that yielded a 26-ball 62, coupled with an abject display of batting from South African batsmen, sealed India a convincing win over the Proteas. Talisman Jasprit Bumrah starred with the ball for India, picking three wickets whilst conceding just 9 runs.
Match Review
Winning the toss and opting to bowl, the South African pacers manhandled the Indian openers in the powerplay, making them dance to their deliveries with some impeccable new-ball bowling. However, the entry of Virat Kohli in the fourth over - after Rohit’s dismissal - changed the entire complexion of the game, as India went into a counter-punch mode to blunt the Proteas. Both Kohli and Rahul eventually departed after a fine 72-run stand, but youngster Rishabh Pant saved the best for the last as a blistering 62 saw him take the team’s score to 182.
As has been the case with many an India-South Africa encounter in the recent past, the Proteas’ innings started off in disastrous fashion, with them losing their top three batsmen with less than 10 runs on the board. A very, very brief onslaught from the duo of Miller and Klaasen gave a tiny bit of hope that we might have a game in our hands, but that was soon shunned by Bumrah, who sent Miller packing for 10. From thereon, the rest of the game turned out to be a mere formality as India thumped the Proteas by a 99-run margin.
Turning Point
The Proteas had the game under control for a vast majority of the Indian innings, but completely lost the plot towards the end when they allowed Pant to tee off. With India’s score 138/4 off 17 overs, South Africa had a golden opportunity to restrict the Men in Blue to a total under 165 but the last three overs remarkably ended up costing 44 runs, completely turning the tide in India’s favour. Those three overs, eventually, turned out to be fatal.
Highs and Lows
With the score 15/1 in the fourth over, India were at the mercy of the South African quicks, having played no less than 11 dots in the first 23 balls. But then enter Virat Kohli, who made Steyn and Rabada look like semi-professional KwaZulu-Natal seamers. The Indian skipper remarkably struck two boundaries off his first two balls to leave both the seasoned pacers in utter disbelief. A true ‘Everyone’s a gangsta until the real gangsta enters the room’ moment, that.
The no-show from South Africa’s top-order killed the essence of the game in no time and ended up leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of the fans. The trio of Bavuma, de Kock and van der Dussen combinedly scored a total of just 4 runs between them, almost handing the game to India in a platter. The Proteas needed their big guns to step-up but they instead ended up letting the team down.
Rating Charts
Powerplay exploitation: India 6.5/10 and South Africa 3/10
As an opening batsman, there are few dreaded sights in cricket than watching Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada steam in with the new-ball with a confident demeanour and both Rohit and Rahul were tamed by the Proteas duo in the powerplay. With Rabada having dismissed Rohit, India were in deep, deep trouble with the score just 15/1 after 3.5 overs, but an astounding, fearless onslaught from Kohli pushed their score to 38/1 at the end of over 6. A riveting passage of play that featured an intense contest between bat and ball.
South Africa’s innings started the exact same way as their counterparts, except the damage done here was ten times more scathing and significant. After losing Bavuma in the second over, the Proteas lost their trump card and skipper Quinton de Kock and Van der Dussen in the same over - bowled by Jasprit Bumrah - to teeter at 8/3. Boundaries then flowed from the bat of David Miller, but his fight only lasted 10 balls and he, too, was sent back to the hut by Bumrah. At 25/4 at the end of the powerplay, the Proteas did give away the vibe that they’d already given up hope.
Middle-overs manoeuvring: India 8/10 and South Africa 1/10
Sanity was restored in the early stages of the middle-overs, as in bat started to dominate ball, and both Rahul and Kohli started proceedings off in sixth gear to remarkably add 42 runs off the first four overs in the phase. A double strike out of nowhere from South Africa - dismissing both Rahul and Kohli in the span of four balls - made the Proteas believe that they’d regained control, but little did they know that they were about to be blown away by a mini Pant-Iyer storm. Boundaries flowed from the bat of both men as India ended up scoring 78 runs in the middle over phase.
Like Novak Djokovic coming up with a good serve whilst facing a break point, the prospect of the Proteas folding within middle-overs seemed inevitable. Chahal and Thakur accounted for two more wickets and at the half-way stage of the chase, the Proteas were reeling at 44/6. In fact, to be really honest, new levels of boredom were hit in the phase - the batting side had no intent to chase the target down and the bowling side, too, was more than content to get through the overs quickly without accounting for wickets. That South Africa scored 37/3 in this phase should tell you everything you need to know.
Death bowling: South Africa 3/10 and India 9/10
As a bowling unit, the last thing you want to encounter whilst facing India is the prospect of bowling against a well-set Iyer and Pant at the death overs, and while the Proteas did manage to tame the former, the latter, however, ripped them to shreds. In what was an astonishing display of power-hitting, pocket dynamite Rishabh Pant struck four fours and five humongous sixes en route to a 26-ball 62 to demolish the Proteas. The South African bowlers did not have any plan nor did they have an answer to Pant’s assault, and ended up conceding 66 runs off the last 5 overs.
The game was dead and buried by the time the ‘death’ overs beckoned and the last five overs were a mere formality. That being said, the Indian bowlers did keep their cockiness in check and were rather professional, as they ended up conceding just 21 runs at the death to seal the victory.
Match Frenzy O Meter - Terrible
South Africa are New Zealand 2.0, as, more often than not, they love to disappoint neutrals and today was no different. Barring Pant’s final blitz and Kohli’s genius, the encounter was an excruciatingly painful one not worthy of being deemed as an ‘international’ match.