After having lost in the three-match ODI series with one game in hand, Team India are taking on South Africa in the third and final ODI. And, KL Rahul stole the show with a brilliant effort in the field as his direct throw at the stumps removed the Proteas captain Temba Bavuma only for eight runs.
India won the toss and opted to bowl first. And, India had a good start as they removed Janneman Malan on 1 and after Temba’s dismissal, Aiden Markram also got out for 15. However, Quinton de Kock smashed a century as well.
Meanwhile, KL Rahul has come under the scanner for his poor captaincy. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has shared that stand-in captain KL Rahul looked out of ideas in the first ODI in Paarl on Wednesday. He said that when Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen added a match-winning stand as well. While speaking to Sports Today, Gavaskar has said that it’s still early days for KL Rahul as a skipper and he hopes India will do well in the next two ODIs.
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https://twitter.com/crictalk7/status/1485179861404909570?s=20
Here is how Twitterati reacted:
https://twitter.com/RaunakVerma18/status/1485177524611338246?s=20
Captain gets Captain 🔥😍 What a throw from Skipper KL 🔥 #KLRahul | #TembaBavuma | #INDvSA
— Rahul Sinha👑 (@rahulkl08) January 23, 2022
WICKET! #SAvIND
South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma run out on 8. pic.twitter.com/qOB146F7DX
— Saikrishna సాయికృష్ణ (@Sai__Krishna__) January 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/ABDvillers18/status/1485177913800806401?s=20
KL Rahul with that throw to run out Temba Bavuma 😉🔥#SAvIND #INDvSA #Cricket #Hawkeye pic.twitter.com/XBSO6pHPNo
— SportsAdda (@sportsadda_) January 23, 2022
This was Temba Bavuma's first run out in ODI's. Interestingly, off the 7 times he's been run out in international cricket, five have been in Test cricket! #SAvIND
— Pranav sridhar (@sridhar_pranav) January 23, 2022
This may have played a role in that Temba Bavuma run out. Him changing his direction was uncharacteristic. #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/zJMgLtGne2
— Sivuyile – Siviwe (@ssimandla) January 23, 2022
Temba Bavuma is South Africa ka Parthiv Patel #SAvsIND
— R S (@monuq) January 23, 2022
Sunil Gavaskar also raised questions on KL Rahul for India’s bowling changes, saying that Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were required to bowl more overs and Venkatesh Iyer could have been bowled in the middle overs as well. He also believes that could trouble both Bavuma and van der Dussen who successfully added 204 runs. South Africa, however, put up 296/4 in 50 overs and then restricted India to 265/8 as well.
“Well, when there is a partnership, sometimes the captain goes out of ideas. I think that is what happened. This was a very good pitch to bat on. The ball was coming onto the bat quite nicely, you can play through the line,” Gavaskar said.
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“During that partnership, it did look as if he had run out of ideas. KL Rahul didn’t know where to go. when you have your two-most experienced death-overs bowlers in Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar, you have to keep them for the last 5-6 overs. So that’s where you can actually stop the opposition from running away with a big score. But, these are early days of his captaincy and maybe things will turn around, let’s hope for Indian cricket’s sake that things turn around in the next couple of days,” he further added.
