Man of the Match: The Indian spinner was adjudged as the Player of the Match for picking four wickets today.
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During the third ODI of South Africa’s second tour of India 2022 in Delhi, India beat South Africa by 7 wickets to register a 2-1 series victory. Bereft of first-choice players, India winning back-to-back matches after losing the first one speaks highly about the comparatively inexperienced players in the current squad.
Chasing a paltry 100-run target, India were always expected to win this match. Opening batter Shubman Gill took centrestage in the second innings to emerge as the pick of the Indian batters scoring 49 (57) with the help of eight fours.
Gill, whose strike rate of 85.96 had come on the back of some eye-catching boundaries, was assisted well by vice-captain Shreyas Iyer (28*) who also looked in sound nick hitting three fours and two sixes in the process.
Man of the Match today India vs South Africa 3rd ODI
India captain Shikhar Dhawan (8) electing to bowl first after winning the toss was justified in the best possible manner by his bowlers. New ball bowlers Washington Sundar and Mohammed Siraj picked a couple of wickets each to reduce South Africa to 26/3 in the first powerplay at the Arun Jaitley Stadium today.
While all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed also dismissed two middle-order batters, it was spinner Kuldeep Yadav who played a crucial role in reducing the Proteas to their fourth-lowest ODI innings total.
Yadav, who already has two ODI hat-tricks under his belt, missed out on a third one in the afternoon but was India’s best bowler for picking figures of 4.1-1-18-4. Having run through the South African lower order, Yadav was adjudged the Player of the Match for the first time in four years.
“Feeling very happy, to be honest. Getting the Player of the Match award, the wicket was perfect and I am enjoying my bowling. I am not thinking too much about the result, just focusing on the process and focusing on my rhythm. I am trying to bowl in good areas,” Yadav told Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.
