T20 Series

The match at Visakhapatnam 48 hours ago had everything India needed, with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan creating a whirlwind 97-run stand to set up Ind'a's base for a challenging 179/5. The bowlers, who were off-colour in the first two matches in New Delhi and Cuttack, came to the party as Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal took four and three wickets respectively to bowl out South Africa for 131.

Both players were recently handed retainer contracts by Cricket Ireland and now find themselves in the 14-man squad set to face India on June 26 and 28 at Malahide. There's no place for Indian-origin off-spin all-rounder Simi Singh with left-handed batter Andrew McBrine providing for some off-spin and Gareth Delany as leg-spin all-rounder.

Apart from Karthik, Shreyas Iyer (40 off 35), Ishan Kishan (34 off 21) were the main scorers as most of the Indian batters failed to deliver against Proteas bowlers and lost wickets at regular intervals. Put into bat first, India had a bad start as opener Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the very first over of the innings.

After winning their third toss in a row, Australia opted to bat first and included Josh Inglis in place of Mitchell Marsh, who was out with a minor calf strain. David Warner was slow to get off the blocks for Australia but Finch made up for his partner's slow start. He welcomed Dushmantha Chameera into the bowling with two fours in his first over and dished out the same treatment to Maheesh Theekshana in his next. The change of ends didn't help Chameera, though it did with Theekshana.

On the eve of the match, captain Temba Bavuma had said to reporters that the pitch had become better to bat as the game progressed, as seen from their intra-squad practice match. On match day, despite occasional fumbles and asking rate touching either 12 or 13, Pretorius, Miller and van der Dussen ensured that South Africa hunted down 212 with five balls to spare.

Although India did win the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, they have not been able to repeat the feat ever since. The problem that seems to surface is in the selection of the side. The confusion that arises is whether to play the tried-and-tested players or ones who are relatively less experienced. In the turmoil of this thought process, the Indian selectors fail to get the right combination in place.

After Ishan Kishan's 76 and finishing touches from captain Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya powered India to 211/4, South Africa were in trouble at 81/3 in 8.4 overs, despite a whirlwind Dwaine Pretorius cameo in power-play. That's when Miller and van der Dussen joined forces to forge an unbroken stand, enough for the visitors to record their highest chase in T20Is and put an end to India's 12-match winning streak in the format.

Veteran wicket keeper Matthew Wade (26 not out) handled the immense pressure of batting with the tail to secure victory with 13 balls to spare. Chasing a low total of 125 runs for win, openers Aaron Finch and David Warner came out intent on powering Australia to victory as quickly as possible. However, Hasaranga weaved some spin magic to turn the tables.

The first match of the series will act as a platform for the hosts to convert their 12-0 winning streak in T20Is into 13, a record in the format. But the series won't be a stroll in the park for the KL Rahul-led side, which is missing players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar.

BCCI has allowed full capacity in stadiums for the India-South Africa T20I series which gets underway on June 9 here. The DDCA president said the upcoming first T20I is very close to his heart and asserted that adequate measures will be taken to stage the game successfully. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had stopped all the sporting activities in March 2020 and as Delhi gears up to host the first T20I, Rohan Jaitley feels it is an interesting phase in the city's cricket.