Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik
Hardik Pandya Returned to his finisher avatar as he smashed a scintillating 12-ball 31 to take India to a mammoth total of 211.
Even after doing his best with the bat, fans and Gujarat Titans coach Ashish Nehra is not happy with Pandya. The reason for this is India’s refusal to take a single to strike the last ball of the innings. Dinesh Karthik,
The move drew a lot of criticism online and Twitter was not really impressed with Pandey’s antics. Ashish Nehra told Cricbuzz that Pandya should have taken a single as DK and Nehra himself were on strike.
Here are some other responses.
India vs South Africa first T20 match report
South Africa denied India their world-record win as the Miller and Dusson-run Proteas attacked the Indian bowlers after beating the Indian bowlers by 7 wickets.
SA won the toss and decided to bowl first. Batting first, Ruturaj and Ishaan got India off to a great start and reached 51 for no loss after the powerplay. Ishan Kishan returned to form and played a blistering innings of 76 runs in 48 balls.
Kishan was looking bad at first, but he talked about the ‘intent’ in Indian cricket and tried to hit almost every ball out of the park. He completed his fifty in 37 balls. When Maharaj came to bowl the 13th over, everything broke down when Kishan went after him, scored 20 runs, and was dismissed on the last ball of the over.
Later in the innings, Pant, who scored 29 off 16, and Hardik Pandya, who scored 31 off 12, combined to bundle out India for a monstrous total of 211 runs.
Chasing 212, South Africa lost Bavuma early. But it turned out to be a boon for the Proteas as Pretorius came on and pushed the bowlers around to park to take South Africa to 61 after the powerplay.
After QDK and Pretorius went back, Rassie van der Dussen and Miller held the crease. Doosan was looking very attractive initially. Miller, on the other hand, was on fire with the word go and completed his fifty in just 22 balls.
But once Doosan was gone, there was no looking back as South Africa smashed bowlers across the park, hitting a brilliant 75
There were 46 deliveries, and he took his side home.
What a chase it was for the Proteas. The stuff of dreams for South Africa. Nightmare for Indians. One that really won’t let them sleep for a while.