India was handed their first defeat of the T20 World Cup 2022 by South Africa, who now remain unbeaten after 2 wins and along with one shared point, they are on top of the Group 2 with 5 points in 3 games, followed by India, who have 4 points in 3 games.
Both teams are now favorites to go through to the semi-final with Pakistan acquiring just 2 points in 3 matches. Bangladesh also have 4 points in 3 games, but next face India and Pakistan.
Speaking about the IND vs SA game, South Africa chased down the target of 134 with only 2 balls to spare. India had labored their way to the score of 133, largely on the back of Suryakumar Yadav’s terrific knock of 68 runs off 40 balls, and the next-highest score in the Indian team was 15!
With the ball, though, India came out all guns blazing. Arshdeep Singh dismissed Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw in his first over before Mohammed Shami nipped out Temba Bavuma. David Miller and Aiden Markram did the rebuilding job with their partnership of 76 runs off 60 balls.
While Markram got out for 52 runs off 41 balls, Miller held his end and made small but crucial and quick-fire partnerships with Tristan Stubbs and Wayne Parnell to see South Africa home, remaining unbeaten on 59 off 46 balls.
Rohit Sharma explains why he gave Ashwin the 18th over
Indian bowlers did well to keep the game alive, and especially the game looked in balance after Markram’s wicket. With 25 runs needed off the last 3 overs, India captain Rohit Sharma played a big gamble by giving R Ashwin the 18th over despite Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had an over left.
This was a massive gamble played by Rohit Sharma. And to be honest, on a Perth pitch that had nothing for spinners, and Ashwin had leaked 31 runs in his 3 overs until that point, this gamble was always going to go against India.
And it did – David Miller smashed Ashwin for two sixes down the ground, and effectively sealed the game. Even though Ashwin dismissed Stubbs in his over, Miller with those two huge hits had tilted the scales in South Africa’s favor to a point where they required 13 runs off 16 balls.
After the match, Rohit Sharma was asked why he went with Ashwin. To which, Sharma said that he didn’t want to have a spinner bowl the last over, hinting at how Mohammad Nawaz bowled a poor last over vs India where Nawaz panicked and gave away plenty of extras.
“I’ve seen what happens with the spinners in the last over, so I wanted to go the other way. If I can finish Ash, I just wanted to make sure that the seamers are bowling the right overs. You have to use it at some point. With the new batter, it was the perfect time for him to bowl. Miller played some good shots as well,” Rohit explained.
