India survived from debutant Christiaan Jonker’s late attack as the visiting team won the match by 7 runs and clinched the three-match T20I series. It was the third and final T20I between the hosts South Africa and the visitors India at the Newlands (Cape Town), where India won the thrilling match and claimed the series by the 1-2 margin.
After winning the toss, South Africa decided to field first. Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who was the captain in charge for this match due to the absence of Virat Kohli, again fell on cheaply as he scored only 11 runs.
Another opener Shikhar Dhawan carried on the innings along with Suresh Raina. Raina was in attacking mood while Dhawan was very much under control. Both of them put an important 65-runs partnership for the second wicket before Raina was dismissed on 43 runs off 27 balls.
Since then, every other Indian batsman put important contributions to make a good total but failed to shape into the long innings. Dhawan was the highest scorer of this innings who was dismissed for 47 runs off 40 balls during the 16th over. At the end of 20 overs, India managed to put a total of 172/7.
Also watch: Dala’s direct-hit deceives Dhawan
Junior Dala was the best bowler among the hosts’ side. He had a bowling figure of 4-0-35-3 while Chris Morris (2/43) picked up two wickets and Tabraiz Shamsi (1/31) claimed a wicket.
In reply, South Africa had a slow start from where they failed to come out at the end. In-form opener Reeza Hendricks was sent back to the pavilion for just 7 runs.
While the hosts’ skipper JP Duminy was fighting very hard against the Indian bowlers and managed to achieve good success at later, the other batsmen failed to provide any support to him. After completing a brilliant half-century, Duminy was dismissed soon on 55 runs and the match was looking like out of their hands as they still needed 64 runs in just 24 balls.
Also watch: Bumrah castles Morris
But, the debutant Christiaan Jonker had the other mind as he began a counter-attack and continuously carried on that successfully till the final over. With his unbelievable knock, Jonker scored 49 runs off just 24 balls while his team were found just 7 runs short of India’s total at the end of the innings.
Farhaan Behardien also contributed an important knock in his little time as he was not out on 15 runs off just 6 balls. Jonker and Behardien put a brilliant 51-runs partnership off just 21 balls for the sixth wicket but just failed to save the team.
Among the Indian bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/24) took two wickets while Jasprit Bumrah (1/39), Shardul Thakur (1/35), Hardik Pandya (1/22) and Suresh Raina (1/27) picked up a piece of wicket each.
In this India’s 7-runs victory, the comeback man Suresh Raina is selected for the Player of the Match award for his superb all-round performances. Meanwhile, Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the Player of the Series award.
Talking about Shikhar Dhawan’s contributions in this series
Most Runs in this T20 series…
Shikhar Dhawan 143…
Gabbar🤘🤘— Dark knight (@Vishal_Pawanism) February 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/dhawanism/status/967446932560818176
https://twitter.com/Superstar_fan1/status/967488090385408000
Shikhar Dhawan.Thats probably the best i've seen him bat
— Anshul Gupta (@iAnsh_95) February 24, 2018
Delighted with Suresh Raina’s performances in all three departments
Suresh Raina is batting in #CSK mode. Just the kind of batting we would like to see. Free flowing, fearless and inventive. That's Suresh Raina for you. #savind
— Mikkhail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) February 24, 2018
Good to see Raina back in form with the bat and with the ball also nice gesture from Kohli who let raina to take his number three position which shows solid team bonding with in Indian team…
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) February 24, 2018
Raina effect is that India is making lot better use of the powerplay. Credit to Kohli for giving away his own batting position to let him play the way he wants to.
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) February 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/Riskiest_Poison/status/967436677982629890
https://twitter.com/BeingMsdian25/status/967487949594968065
Congratulation messages for team India to win the match and also claim the T20I series
Man Of The Match – Suresh Raina 43 (27). What A Comeback. While Others Were Doubting And Questioning His Selection, The Man Has Shut Down Haters' Mouth By His Performance. 💪🙏🇮🇳 #INDvSA #INDvsSA #SAvIND #SureshRaina #CSK pic.twitter.com/eCNxnPfDoz
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) February 24, 2018
Now all that is left for @imVkohli as captain and @RaviShastriOfc as coach is to win a test series overseas. Enough signs they can. #INDvSA
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) February 24, 2018
Fantastic team work by Men in Blue. Well played South Africa #INDvSA
— Vamsi Kaka (@vamsikaka) February 24, 2018
Well done boyyysss congratulations for one more victory and 2-1 ✌✌✌✌✌✌@circleofcricket @imVkohli @ImRo45 @hardikpandya7 @SDhawan25 @im_manishpandey @ImRaina @msdhoni @DineshKarthik @BhuviOfficial @Jaspritbumrah93 @imShard @akshar2026 @BCCI @DelhiDaredevils
— 𝕸𝖔𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖎 (@MdShami11) February 24, 2018
Jeet Gaye. India Beat South Africa By 7 Runs To Win The T20I Series 2-1. Well Bowled Bhuvi. 💪🙏🇮🇳 #INDvSA #INDvsSA #SAvIND #SAvsIND
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) February 24, 2018
The professionalism with which India played this series, definitely deserve the results, SA on the other hand, need to focus on fitness of key players and improve bench strength. Cant miss players like ABD, QD kock and Faf for 60-70% of series.#INDvSA
— H Anil (@CricketNchill) February 24, 2018
India finished their tour with 2-1
What a decider it was last 3 overs were breath-taking great performance by team and it was great see @ImRaina win the man of the match for india.. #INDvSA— Pragati (@pragati712) February 24, 2018
Rising expectation after Suresh Raina selected as Player of the Match award
#INDvSA
Great come back by @ImRaina with winning man of the match and winning trophy .
Love to see you in ODI.#SAvIND— Raman Yadav 🇮🇳 (@Hraman_yd) February 24, 2018
