Protea lose 3rd T20I despite Markram half-century – Cricket Fanatics Magazine

The Proteas lost the 3rd T20I against India by seven wickets despite a half-century from Aiden Markram.

On Sunday, December 14, the Proteas played India in the 3rd T20 in Dharmsala. Suryakumar Yadav won the crucial toss and chose to bowl first. With the score tied at 1-1, both sides were keen to seize the momentum and take the lead.

Unfortunately for South Africa, the vast majority of batters struggled to make any meaningful contribution with the bat. The majority of the top order struggled to adapt to the conditions and struggled to deal with the swinging ball from the Indian seamers.

The Indian bowlers consistently bowled good lengths, which made it difficult for our batters to adapt. While the entire Indian attack proved to be extremely effective, the standout performers were Arshdeep Singh, who took 2 wickets for 13 runs from his 4 overs (at an economy rate of 3.25) and Varun Chakaravarthy, who took 2 wickets for 11 runs from his 4 overs at an economy rate of 2.75.

South Africa then scored 117 all out at the end of their 20 overs. Aiden Markram came in at number 3 and played a sublime knock of 61 off 46 balls. Throughout his innings, Markram ran the attack very well and played his extended attacking shots at the right time.

Another standout performer was Donovan Ferreira, who scored 20 off 15 balls before being bowled by a googly from Chakaravarthy. Although Ferreira could have stayed a little longer, I thought he played well and increased our run rate. In my opinion, he should be ahead of Corbin Bosch in the line-up so that he has more time to come in and play his extended game against spinners.

Halfway through it was clear to see that South Africa could have scored another 10 runs if our batters had shown a little more patience; However, I was still optimistic that 118 was a good enough score to defend.

India’s openers got off to a flying start by putting our bowlers under heavy pressure and scoring at an extremely fast pace. Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill made it an opening stand of 63 runs before Markram took a great catch in the outfield (off the bowling of Corbin Bosch). This left India at 63 runs for the loss of 1 wicket.

Shubman Gill was the next batsman to be dismissed for 28 by chopping at his stumps off Marco Jansen’s bowling. India were 92 for 2 when Gill was dismissed. Suryakumar Yadav was the last wicket to fall when Baartman took a catch in the outfield off Lungi Ngidi’s bowling. At the fall of Yadav’s wicket, India were 109 for 3 off 14.4 overs.

India chased down the total and went on to win the match by 7 wickets with 25 balls to spare. India now have a 2-1 lead with two matches to go.