New Delhi: Team India won the third match of the five-match T20 International (T20I) series against South Africa by 48 runs to get a 2-1 lead in the series at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. This is India's first victory under the leadership of captain Rishabh Pant. Team India's bowlers, who were performing poorly in the last two matches, made a comeback and troubled the African batsmen fiercely.
Rishabh Pant-led team India gave a target of 180 runs to host South Africa after playing first. For India, Rituraj Gaikwad scored 57 off 35 balls and Ishan Kishan scored 54 runs in 35 balls. In the end, Hardik Pandya returned unbeaten on 31 runs. Dwaine Pretorius took the highest two wickets (2/29) for South Africa.
After losing the toss, Team India got off to a great start by Rituraj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan. Both shared a partnership of 97 runs in 10 overs for the first wicket. Rituraj Gaikwad scored 57 runs in 35 balls and Ishan Kishan scored 54 runs in 35 balls. Gaikwad's bat hit 7 fours and 2 sixes. At the same time, Kishan hit 5 fours and 2 sixes.
During this, Gaikwad hit five consecutive fours in five balls from fast bowler Anrich Nortje in the fifth over. Meanwhile, Gaikwad completed his fifty in 30 balls. On the other end, Ishaan was also seen in good touch. But in the 11th over, India got the first blow for 97 when Gaikwad was dismissed for 57 runs in 35 balls with the help of five fours and two sixes off Maharaj, after which South Africa returned to the match.
However, Ishaan also completed his half-century in 31 balls. But Iyer (14) was caught off the ball of Tabraiz Shamsi, which gave India a second blow for 128 runs in 13 overs. In the next over, Ishan (54) also returned to Pavilion on the ball of Pretorius. Captain Pant (6) also became the victim of Pretorius in the 16th over, due to which India scored 143 runs for the loss of four wickets.
After this, Kagiso Rabada, who came to bowl the 19th over, gave 11 runs to Dinesh Karthik (6). At the same time, Wayne Parnell gave 12 runs in the 20th over, due to which India scored 179 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. Hardik Pandya (31) and Axar Patel (5) remained unbeaten.