South Africa defeated India by five wickets on Sunday in Perth thanks to half-centuries from David Miller and Aiden Markram. Putting them in a prime position to advance to the Twenty20 World Cup semifinals. Due in major part to a 76-run partnership between Miller, who hit 59 not out. And Markram, who made 52. South Africa’s batsmen passed their goal with two balls to spare in Perth. After their bowlers, headed by Lungi Ngidi, had held India to 133-9.
With five points from three games and a point more than India and Bangladesh. South Africa has above them to take first place in Group 2. Pakistan has two points, Zimbabwe has three, and the Netherlands is last with zero. Miller capped off his 46-ball innings with two boundaries after India took the score into the game’s final over with South Africa needing six runs to win. Early gains were gained by India’s opening bowlers on the Perth wicket’s fast and bouncy surface.
In the second over’s first three deliveries, Arshdeep Singh struck again, dismissing Quinton de Kock for one and Rilee Rossouw for zero. Rossouw had produced a century against Bangladesh in the previous game.
Markram responded with two fours of his own. But skipper Temba Bavuma’s batsmanship drought continued while attempting a scoop shot from Mohammed Shami. He nicked one to the wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
Virat Kohli Dropped a Crucial Catch against South Africa
At the midway point, Markram and Miller increased the innings score to 40-3. In the 11th over, they then got off to a good start with each hitting a boundary against off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. But the bowler was devastated when Markram, who was on 35 at the time. He missed a simple chance due to Virat Kohli’s normally safe hands at deep midwicket.
As Rohit Sharma missed a run-out and another catch went wrong on the boundary, India was plagued by shoddy fielding. As South Africa neared their goal, Markram lifted his fifty with a four and two runs off Arshdeep. When Markram holed out to Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya broke the stand, but Miller remained steadfast to take his team through.
Earlier, once India decided to bat, Ngidi spearheaded a ferocious pace assault to limit them to a subpar score. Yadav led India back from 49-5 with a crucial 52-run stand with Dinesh Karthik. Yadav scored 68 off 40 balls, including six fours and three sixes.
In addition to fellow fast bowler Wayne Parnell, who finished with 3-15 after beginning the innings with a T20 rare – a maiden over — Ngidi delivered figures of 4-29 off his four overs.
The in-form Yadav even crushed Ngidi for a big six over a beautiful leg to energize a sizable Indian contingent in the crowd after hitting an unbroken 51 against the Netherlands in their previous victory. With another four, he added to his fifty off 30 balls.
Karthik attempted to join the attack but was struck by Parnell, who broke a stand that had been 52 runs long before Yadav was struck out by the same bowler in the 19th over.
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