India shattered a historic record of Australia with their win over South Africa in the third T20I at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Sunday, December 14.
The Men in Blue were asked to chase a paltry total of 118 in the third match after the Indian bowlers put up a brilliant performance. The batters complemented well to hunt down the target in 15.5 overs with seven wickets in hand and take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
With this win, India have shattered the record for most wins by a team against South Africa in T20I cricket. They were earlier tied with Australia on 19 wins and have now gone past the 2021 T20 champions with their 20th win over the Proteas.
Most wins against South Africa in T20I cricket:
1 - India: 20 wins in 34 matches
2 - Australia: 19 wins in 28 matches
3 - West Indies: 14 wins in 26 matches
4 - Pakistan: 14 wins in 27 matches
5 - England: 13 wins in 28 matches
Abhishek sets platform for chase, India get to the line with ease
Abhishek Sharma laid the foundation for India's chase with his stroke-filled 18-ball 35. The others took time to get going as the scoring rate dipped in the middle phase, but due to the early damage done and the paltry target, India got over the line easily in the end.
Shubman Gill made a run-a-ball 28, while Tilak Varma, coming in at No.3, scored an unbeaten 34-ball 25 as the Indian batters slowed down in the middle. Captain Suryakumar Yadav had another underwhelming outing as he made 12 from 11 balls, before being caught at deep fine-leg. Shivam Dube had a brief outing in the middle as he made an unbeaten 10 from four balls, finishing the things with a six and a four off Ottneil Baartman.
Bowlers star with complete performance
The bowlers put up a complete performance as everyone struck in unison. Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy were the stars with the ball as both the players bowled mingy spells for a couple of wickets each. Arshdeep gave away only 13 runs in his four overs and scalped crucial wickets of Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram. Meanwhile, Chakravarthy starred in the middle phase, taking two wickets for 11 runs in his four overs. Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav also bagged a couple each, while Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya took one each.
