After winning their opening two games of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, India was bettered by a resilient South African contingent, who managed to emerge victorious by five wickets. David Miller and Aiden Markram chipped in with the fifties for the winning side after a top-order collapse. 

After winning their opening two games of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, India was bettered by a resilient South African contingent, who managed to emerge victorious by five wickets. David Miller and Aiden Markram chipped in with the fifties for the winning side after a top-order collapse. 

India had won the toss and chose to bat first earlier. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma departed early after a shaky start and Virat Kohli soon followed the suit just after the powerplay overs were done. Deepak Hooda, who replaced Axar Patel, made no impact as he walked back for a five-ball duck. 

Suryakumar Yadav held the innings together with a stellar half-century despite losing partners regularly. He added 52 runs with Dinesh Karthik in a partnership where Karthik scored just six runs off 15 balls. No matter who came out to bat at number five and later managed double-digit scores India could only manage 133 runs for the loss of nine wickets. 

More than half of these runs came from the willow of Suryakumar Yadav, who scored 68 runs off 40 balls which included six fours and three sixes. Lungi Ngidi was the star with the ball, returning with figures of 4/29 whilst Parnell too was magnificent with his 3/15. 

Arshdeep Singh provided a magical start for India, dismissing Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw in his first over. In the final over of power play, Mohammed Shami dismissed skipper Temba Bavuma as the match seemed to be motoring in favor of the Indians. Aiden Markram and David Miller had other ideas and consolidated the innings for a few overs before launching a counterattack. 

South Africa just scored 40 runs in the opening 10 overs but got 45 runs in the next four to get back in the driver’s seat. Markram led the attack whilst Miller chipped in with a couple of boundaries as well. Markram was dropped by Kohli and Rohit Sharma missed a chance to run him out, but he completed his fifty before departing.

The batter had done the bulk of the job and his companion in crime David Miller ensured there were no twists in the end. Miller remained unbeaten on 59 off 46 balls as South Africa won by five wickets. Arshdeep returned with figures of 2/25 for India.

Brief Scores

India: 133/9 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 68; Lungi Ngidi 4/29, Wayne Parnell 3/15)

South Africa: 137/5 in 19.4 overs (Aiden Markram 52, David Miller 59*)

Player of the match: Lungi Ngidi