Hardik Pandya was not the top performer among the third T20Is India and South Africa but he was definitely the luckiest player on both sides. He was dropped while batting on 1 with David Miller – one of the South African team’s finest fielders – and then some of his windy shots resulted in the ball landing safely on the turf.
India vs South Africa 2022: Schedule , news , photos
Pandya’s dropped catch would have the advantage of scoring an unbeaten 31 and pushing India’s final total to 179/5 – on aggregate as the hosts defended their first win in the five-match series.
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Former India spinner Amit Mishra, who was watching the match, expressed his thoughts on Pandya’s brilliant innings with a witty tweet that is going viral on social media.
Mishra wrote, “Hardik Pandya is so lucky today that he can fly in a low fuel plane with a bad engine, in a storm and still make it to the destination safely.”
Hardik Pandya today is lucky enough to be able to fly low on a fueled plane, in a thunderstorm, with a bad engine, and still make it to the destination safely. #IndvsRSA pic.twitter.com/leuUDMI8GM
— Amit Mishra (@MishiAmit) 14 June 2022
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma decided to bowl first but India’s openers got off to a great start with the pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad. Ishan Kishan Each scored a half-century. The pair added 97 runs before parting ways.
The tourists made a mini comeback with three quick wickets including Shreyas Iyer, Ishaan and Rishabh Pant before Pandya capitalized on a dropped catch to flourish late.
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The Indian bowlers put up a strong performance with pacer Harshal Paddle at 4/25 while legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal finished with 3/20 as South Africa posted 131 runs in 19.1 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Axar Patel took one wicket each.
With their 48-run win, India now take a 2-1 lead with the fourth match on Friday in Rajkot where they will expect a draw.
South Africa started the series on a strong note with consecutive wins in Delhi and Cuttack.
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