Karthik in action vs SA in 4th T20
Dinesh Karthik put on an absolute exhibition with the bat as smacked 55 off just 27 deliveries to power India to a fighting total of at Rajkot.
South Africa started really well with the ball. Ngidi first struck early to send Gaikwad back, and then Jansen came to scalp out Iyer. Kishan, as usual, started out slowly, but couldn't carry on and went back after scoring 27 off 26 deliveries.
South Africa was brilliant with their line and lentghs - not giving anything away to the Indian batters. Pant stayed for a while, but couldn't continue and failed yet again.
Karthik then joined Hardik at the crease. Both players played the waiting game until the 15th over and came out all guns blazing after that. Pandya's 46 and Karthik's 55 eventually helped India post a fighting total vs the Proteas, who will be disappointed with the way things panned out at the business end of the innings.
Twitter was in awe of Karthik's heroics. Here are some of the best reactions.
Earlier, Rishabh Pant lost the fourth consecutive toss and said "We were looking to bowl first. The only thing we are focusing on is our process and are not thinking this is a must-win game. We are trying to increase our run rate in the middle overs and that's what we are trying to achieve as a team. We are playing with the same team."
Teams:
India Playing XI
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan
South Africa Playing XI
Temba Bavuma(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje
