In their bid to defend their lowest total ever – 133/9 in the T20 format, team India did manage to stretch the match till the last Over, but were ultimately handed a 5-wicket loss against South Africa during the 30th match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022, at the Perth Stadium.
Advertisement
The Proteas, akin India, got off to a poor start as well, but had the advantage of the relatively modest target before them which they judiciously used to their advantage during the chase.
After being reduced to 40/3 after 10 Overs, the experienced duo of Aiden Markram (52 off 41) and David Miller (59* off 46) stitched together a match-winning fourth wicket partnership worth 76 runs off 60 deliveries, to almost nullify the top-order collapse advantage handed to the Indians.
Having said that, a couple of ordinary efforts from India’s two most experienced players on the field – Virat Kohli and then Rohit Sharma, too played a massive role in the team’s loss tonight.
With Markram at the score of 35 and then on 36, Kohli dropped a dolly (12th Over) at the extra cover region, while Rohit missed an ‘as easy as you’ll ever get’ run-out opportunity (13th Over) to hand crucial lifelines to the Proteas.
Ultimately, with 6 runs required off the final Over, Miller hit consecutive boundaries off the 3rd and the 4th delivery, to see his side through, and inch ever-closer to seal the semi-final berth.
Rohit Sharma reveals why R Ashwin was handed 18th Over of the South African chase
With 25 runs required off the last three Overs, skipper Rohit Sharma handed off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-43-1) the responsibility to bowl the Over, after having already leaked 31 runs off his 3 Overs earlier.
It is worth of a mention that Rohit still had a couple of options in Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, both of who also had one Over each remaining in their quota.
Unfortunately for the Indian, and Pakistani fans as well, Miller tonked Sixes off the first two deliveries bowled by Ashwin to puncture the spirits of the majority crowd at the Perth Stadium.
While he did manage to get rid of Tristan Stubbs (6), his 13-run Over brought the equation down to 12 runs required off two Overs.
During the post-match presentation, when asked on the decision to opt for Ashwin to bowl the 18th Over, Rohit remarked that with the new batter (Stubbs) on the pitch, that was perhaps the best time to finish off his Overs as he knew how risky bowling a spinner can be during the last Over.
“I’ve seen what happens with the spinners in the last over, so I wanted to go the other way. If I can finish Ash, I just wanted to make sure that the seamers are bowling the right overs. You have to use it at some point. With the new batter, it was the perfect time for him to bowl,” remarked Rohit.
Earlier in the day, during the ‘Super 12 Group 2’ match between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, the Bangladeshi off-spinner Mosaddek Hossain was handed the task to defend 16 runs off the final Over.
In what turned out to be a dramatic finish of the highest order, Bangladesh somehow managed to win the contest by 3 runs, after Mosaddek leaked 12 runs bowling before the Zimbabwean pacers.
