India sealed another home series win as they took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-T20I series against South Africa with a 16-run victory on Sunday at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
While 16 runs seem a close margin, in reality, India remained always ahead in the game. The batters first hammered 237 runs with 4 of the top 5 scoring at a strike rate of over 200. Suryakumar Yadav was once again the showstopper with his blistering knock of 61 runs off 22 balls, but weirdly opener KL Rahul, who scored 57 off 28, got the Man of the Match award, although Rahul himself acknowledged that it should have been SKY.
Anyways, India’s bowling remains a concern – the 19th over continues to be a troubling aspect as Arshdeep was clattered for 26 runs in the 19th over – as David Miller notched up a sizzling century off 46 balls and shared a mighty stand of 174* (84) with Quinton de Kock who finished at 69* (48), but it was still not enough for the visitors to scale the target down. They were once again let down by their skipper Temba Bavuma, who bagged a 7-ball duck at the start of the chase.
Since this was such a high-scoring game, there were a number of records being broken and created:
First of all, this is India’s first-ever T20I series win against South Africa at home – the previous results being: Lost 2-0 in 2015; Drew 1-1 in 2019; Drew 2-2 in 2022 (in June).
Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli forged a partnership of 102 runs in 42 balls. This is now the fastest 100+ stands for India in T20Is by run rate, beating KL Rahul and MS Dhoni’s 107 off 49 vs WI in Lauderhill 2016.
India hit a total of 38 boundaries (fours+sixes) with 10 alone coming from Suryakumar Yadav’s bat. This is the second most number of boundaries India have smashed in a T20I – 42 the most vs Sri Lanka in 2017.
237/3 is now the highest total by any team against South Africa in T20Is; India surpassed West Indies’ 236/6 from 2015 at Jo’burg.
South Africa pacers – Rabada, Nortje, Parnell and Ngidi – had a collective off day today. This is the first time that South African pacers bowled 15 or more overs but failed to take a single wicket!
David Miller is now the leading Protea batter in T20Is with 2009 runs; de Kock is second with 1964 runs.
Miller became only the second batter in T20Is ever to have an unbeaten century to his name in a losing cause; KL Rahul, from 2016 game in vs WI in Lauderhill, was first such.
174* partnership by de Kock and Miller is the highest in the history of T20Is for 4th wicket or below for any team, and this is also the highest partnership for South Africa in men’s T20Is, and the highest partnership to end in a losing cause.
David Miller also became the first batsman to score multiple T20I hundreds batting at #5 or below; his maiden T20I ton being 101*(36) vs Bangladesh at Potchefstroom in 2017.
India have now conceded 200+ totals 5 times this year in T20Is – the most often by any Full Member team.
