In the 30th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, South Africa defeated India by five wickets at the Perth Stadium in Perth.
In the second innings, the Proteas had a competitive chase ahead of them on a wicket that offered pace and bounce. South Africa had a terrible commencement to their second innings as the in-form Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw were back in the pavilion in the second over. With the fall of Temba Bavuma in the sixth over, South Africa was struggling with just 24 on the board with three casualties. The 64-run partnership between David Miller and Aiden Markram changed the Bavuma-led team’s tides. The two clean strikers of the ball laid off their natural game and looked for taking the game deep with sensible grounded shots. With just six needed off the last over, it took four balls for the Proteas to fetch those runs to grab two important points.
Lungi Ngidi was the pick among the bowlers, who was right on the money throughout his spell and didn’t allow the Indians to score. He scalped four wickets and along with him, Wayne Parnell also grabbed three scalps. Anrich Nortje also pocketed one wicket.
On the other end, the Indian top order collapsed yet again. The skipper Rohit Sharma succumbed to a back-of-the-length delivery with an extra bounce by Ngidi while KL Rahul failed to score big one more time. The in-form Virat Kohli also fell prey to Ngidi’s bouncer. If it wasn’t for Suryakumar Yadav‘s 68 off 40 deliveries, India wouldn’t have managed to put up a respectable total. Yadav ferociously yet elegantly used the raw pace of proteas and took them for cleaners. Apart from the Mumbai batter, no one else managed to score more than 15 runs.
The opening duo of the Indian bowling attack gave a hard time in the second innings to their opponents. The pick among the bowlers was Arshdeep Singh, who got two wickets and with him, one each was plucked by Mohammad Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin and Hardik Pandya. Bhuvneshwar Kumar swung the ball in both ways and provided an economic spell.
Lungi Ngidi was adjudged Man of the Match for his exceptional bowling display. With this win, the Proteas have acquired the top position in their respective group with five points.
Scorecard:
India: 133/9, Overs 20, Suryakumar Yadav 68, Lungi Ngidi 4/29
South Africa: 137/5, Overs 19.4, David Miller 59*, Arshdeep Singh 2/25