(Cricket news) India defeated South Africa by a mammoth 82 runs to complete an impeccable comeback to level the series at 2-2. After losing the first two matches of the series, India continued to persist with the same playing XI and trusted the same players while South Africa were forced into 3 changes. Quinton de Kock was fit again as he replaced Reeza Hendricks while Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell were out with injuries. Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi came into the side. Temba Bavuma for the 4 time in this series won the toss and put India into bat first.
India got off to a very slow start as they only managed 56 runs after 10 overs and lost 3 wickets. South Africa bowled really well at the start on the pitch that had uneven bounce. India were struggling at 81/4 at one stage when Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik stepped up. The pair stitched together a 65 run partnership which ended up being the difference between the two sides. Pandya was dismissed after scoring 46 off 31 while Karthik got 55 off 27. This was Karthik's maiden T20I fifty and it also earned him the player of the match award. The partnership between Pandya and Karthik was very smartly played as the pair didn't take too many risks at the beginning but then started firing towards the end. The pitch was difficult to bat on due to the confusing nature of its bounce. India ended the innings on 169/6 which looked defendable. Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj picked up a wicket each while Lungi Ngidi got two scalps.
Chasing 170, South Africa never looked comfortable. Temba Bavuma injured his arm while diving to complete a run and had to retire hurt which was the first blow. The Indian bowlers were consistently hitting the right length and letting the pitch bring the variation. Bavuma and Jansen were hit on the helmet by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Avesh Khan respectively. Harshal Patel and Axar Patel got a wicket each while Yuzvendra Chahal got two scalps. Avesh Khan, who had not picked up a single wicket in the first 3 matches was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 4 wickets and bowled really well, giving away just 18 runs.
The men in blue got two very comfortable wins with a huge margin to set up an ultimate series decider in Bangalore. The plan of sticking with the same playing XI is working for India. The two players who made an international comeback i.e Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik have both been excellent and have taken a massive step into booking their berth to Australia for the World Cup.
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