South Africa defeated India in the first T20 match of the Freedom Series by seven wickets at Dharmasala. Although Indian batsmen had a blast, the bowlers could hardly deliver, which helped the visitors to go up 1-0 in the three-match series. India managed to put a mammoth total of 199/5 in their 20 overs, while the mighty Proteas chased in down with two deliveries left.
Let's take a look at the hits and the flops from both the sides from the match:
India:
Hits
Rohit Sharma
Sharma clearly lived up to his reputation of being a destructive batsman on home turf. By scoring a stunning century in Dharamsala, he became the second Indian after Suresh Raina to have centuries in all the three formats of the game. From the beginning, it was evident that it was his day as he started hammering the South African bowlers right from the very first over of the Indian innings. Along with Virat Kohli, Sharma laid the foundation of the Indian innings, but it's his bad luck that his brilliant display with the bat went all in vain.
Ravi Chandran Ashwin
On a day, where almost all the Indian bowlers were punished brutally by the visiting batsmen, Ashwin remained the exception. In his four overs, he gave only 26 runs and clinched the ever-vital wicket of AB de Villiers. But unfortunately he never got considerable support from any of his compatriots. Apart from him, all the other Indian bowlers fared poorly as they conceded 40 or more runs in their respective quota of overs.
Flops
Akshar Patel
Young left-arm spinner Akshar Patel is being widely viewed as the main villain after India's loss. And the reason -- in the 16th over of the Proteas innings, which Patel bowled, rival batsman JP Duminy struck him for three huge sixes. In that over, Patel leaked 22 runs which went to put the game in the visitors’ favour. It will be wrong to dump all the blame on the youngster, as collectively India's bowling performance was bleak. Nevertheless, he is being widely seen as the main culprit. Who knows, he might lose his place to Stuart Binny in the next match.
Sreenath Aravind
It was an auspicious day for Aravind as he made his debut for the India in the 20-over format. But his happiness did not last for long, courtesy the South African batsmen. They attacked the left-arm pacer heavily right from the start and continued it till the end, and that must have made his debut match a nightmare. He was brought into the side as he specialises in slower deliveries, which is ideal for T20 bowling. He clearly failed to do his job.
South Africa:
Hits
JP Duminy
It was yet another match-winning performance from the seasoned campaigner. Duminy's sparkling unbeaten 68 was studded with seven sixes and one four. The game-changing 16th over where he struck Akshar Patel for three sixes to extract 22 runs from the over tilted the match in his team's favour. He outshone Rohit Sharma's incredible century.
Kyle Abbott
Amongst all the big names involved in the game, Abbott turned out to be the silent yet lethal giant killer. Many did not notice that during the 16th over of the Indian innings, Abbott removed both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, which proved to be a game changer. Both of them were then set in the crease and especially Sharma, who was in a demolishing mood. If any or both of them would have existed on the pitch, India would have easily marched on to a mammoth total. Moreover, Abbott, too, was the most economical South African bowler in yesterday's match.
Flops
Faf du Plessis
The visiting skipper clearly failed with his bat as he was dismissed just for four runs by debutant Aravind. Whenever a player of du Plessis's stature comes to bat, he carries a lot of responsibility on his shoulder, especially when the team is chasing a huge total of 200 runs. But thankfully his batsmen saved his day for him and he gets to leave the ground on a winning note.
Imran Tahir
One of the best leg-spinners of the modern T20 arena and South Africa's best spinners, Tahir was utterly disappointing with the ball. In the three overs which he bowled, he gave away 35 runs, that also without taking any wicket. Maybe he had a bad day in the field, but South Africa will be expecting him to perform soon in the remaining tour.
By Dipyan Saha
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