Suryakumar Yadav (68 off 40 balls) played the best innings of his short international career, but South Africa exposed India’s inadequacy against excessive pace and bounce to win a low-scoring thriller.
Chasing 134, South Africa finished the chase in 19.4 overs with Aiden Markram and David Miller scoring 52 and 59 respectively, the latter remaining unbeaten.
“We expected the pitch to have something, with the weather. We knew that would help for the seamer. That’s why you saw 130 was not an easy chase. I thought we fought well till the end but South Africa Well played in the end,” Rohit said at the presentation ceremony.
“The pitch is such that the wicket can come anytime for the fast bowlers. It was a match-winning partnership between Miller and Markram. But we were not good enough on the field. We have played in such conditions so conditions are not excuses. Want to continue in that department.”
On that day, India’s fielding also left much to be desired, with even a normally secure Virat Kohli taking a fairly simple chance in the boundary off Ravichandran Ashwin. Markram was the batsman on that occasion.
“We couldn’t hold our chances, we missed a few run-outs including ourselves. We were a little poor on the field, we gave so many chances on the field and we weren’t clinical. We just weren’t good enough.
“Last two games, we were very good on the field. We need to keep our heads up and learn from this game.”
In the 14th over being bowled by Ashwin, Markram and Miller hit a six each and 17 came off that over, which decided the fate of the game. Ashwin (1/43 in 4 overs) lost his confidence after dropping the catch and it showed in the subsequent overs.
Speaking on Ashwin’s over, Rohit said, “I have seen what happened to the spinners in the last game. So I wanted to finish with Ashwin before the last over. I wanted to see the fast bowler bowl the right over. Looking at the new batsman came, it was the right time to bowl to Ashwin.”
Struggling with form, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma admitted that his team’s other batsmen are in good shape.
“(At the 10-over mark) the discussion was to push the intent. When you do that, then opportunities come your way. Luckily things went our way and we were able to get to that pace .
“Our batting line-up is in good form barring ourselves. This is a batting unit that has been together for a while now. Coming up in moments of pressure will boost people’s confidence.
“We looked at the games played here and decided on the length. The convertible bounce helped us. We backed our execution, luckily it paid off for us.
“We don’t like that tag (favourites), we haven’t come into the tournament as favourites. We will keep flying under the radar. It’s important that we keep improving and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Bavuma said.
Man of the Match Lungi Ngidi, who finished with excellent figures of 4/29, said that he will cherish his performance for a long time.
“It was very nerve-wracking when the games got so close, as a bowler you can’t do much and just have to believe in the boys. It’s one of my biggest dreams, something like this in the world (Awards) ) to get the Cup and help the country win a game, will cherish it for a long time,” Ngidi said.
He said, ‘It comes with seeing a lot of games being played here, luckily I have played here too and I knew it (how to bowl).
“We saw Pakistan bowling first and there was a lot to do. After the break of 10 overs, Markram took the game and David followed him. That partnership brought us closer and then David ended it. done.” PTI AH AH BS BS
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