India have won the T20I series against South Africa despite valiant efforts by Christiaan Jonker and JP Duminy. Jonker ran hard, hit boundaries, reduced the asking rate and stretched the opposition with an applaudable 24-ball 49, but his efforts fell short. Duminy also did his best by scoring a half-century.
For the third time in the series, South Africa asked India to bat first. And for the third time, Junior Dala ensured Rohit Sharma wouldn't play a very big role. But Rohit's exit in the second over - trapped leg before - did not deter India in their quest for quick runs in the batting powerplay, despite the absence of Virat Kohli due to a stiff lower back. Suresh Raina took the final opportunity on tour to provide evidence that he wasn't past his best as yet - starting his 27-ball stay with a big six and hitting five fours along the way.
Raina and Shikhar Dhawan powered India to 57 for 1 in 6 overs. Once the field placements were relaxed and Duminy used spin from both ends, India's scoring rate receded. The next four overs fetched only 24 runs and the wicket of Raina, who tried but failed to clear the long-off fielder off a Tabraiz Shamsi delivery. Up against Dala's speed and the two-paced wicket, Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni both fell while trying and failing to clear the fence. Dhawan's stay extended past Raina's wicket, but was brought to an abrupt end at 47 off 40 balls through Dala's sensational direct hit from deep square leg that caught the batsman short.
Hardik Pandya too couldn't come to grips with the sluggish nature of the surface, but his 17-ball 21 played a vital role in pushing India's total further. Dinesh Karthik's earnest attempt for a late surge was ended with a fine full delivery from Chris Morris, who also dismissed Pandya to keep India down to a sub-200 total.
A good start would've put South Africa on their way but that did not happen. Indian pacers did exceedingly well to use the not-so-subtle change of pace in their favour, as David Miller and Reeza Hendricks couldn't give their side a flying start. In the third over of the chase, Hendricks was sent packing for his failure to read and deal aptly with a knuckle ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In contrast to India's start, South Africa managed just 25 runs in the powerplay overs, that allowed the asking rate climb steeply.
With Duminy and Miller - two left-handers - in the middle, Rohit threw the ball to Raina ahead of his left-arm (and only) spinner Axar Patel. The off-break bowler got rid of Miller. Miller's exit reunited the heroes of the second T20I victory - Klaasen and Duminy - but the conditions were hardly similar. Klaasen joined the rest of the top-order in not being able to get his head around variations that India used, and fell for a 10-ball 7 off a Pandya ball which he flat-batted to Bhuvneshwar at mid-off.
Jonker arrived and took Raina on straightaway, while Duminy kept his fight going to keep South Africa alive despite the climbing required rate. In the 16th over of the chase, Duminy reached his 11th T20I fifty, but also perished to a knuckle ball from Shardul. Chris Morris came out with South Africa needing 64 off the last four overs, and had his middle-stump knocked out by Bumrah off the third ball he faced.
When the chase appeared all but done and dusted, Jonker gave India a surprise. Thakur's final over fetched South Africa 18 runs, to make India squirm a bit after bossing the field for the majority of the outing.
Brief scores: India 172/7 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 47, Suresh Raina 43; Junior Dala 3-35) beat South Africa 165/6 in 20 overs (JP Duminy 55, Christiaan Jonker 49; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-24) by 7 runs
