Captain Suryakumar Yadav smashed a brilliant 100 from 56 balls as India squared the series against South Africa with an emphatic 106-run win in the third and final Twenty20 International in Johannesburg yesterday.
After being sent in to bat, India reached 201 for seven in their 20 overs at The Wanderers, before they dismissed the home side for a paltry 95.
Yadav anchored the innings with a sublime century in which he struck boundaries in all parts of the ground, with seven fours to go with eight sixes for his fourth century in international T20 matches.
He put on 112 for the third wicket with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who also impressed with 60 from 41 balls after India had lost Shubman Gill (8) and Tilak Varma (0) in consecutive balls off the bowling of excellent spinner Keshav Maharaj (2-26) with the score on 29.
Rinku Singh (14) was the only other batter to get into double figures in India’s total.
The visitors’ seamers got more movement off the wicket from the start and South Africa never looked settled in their chase, before the spinners finished them off.
Only David Miller offered any real resistance with 35 from 25 balls before he was the last man out, giving wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav career-best figure of 5-17 in 2.5 overs.
There was a major worry for the tourists when Suryakumar Yadav rolled his ankle while attempting a routine piece of fielding and had to hobble off. There was no immediate news on the extent of the damage.
Yadav praises India’s
attacking style in win over SA
“We wanted to play a fearless brand of cricket, to bat first, put big runs on the board and defend it,” captain Yadav said at the post-match presentation.
“The boys work hard day in, day out, and I am really happy they showed their quality to level the series.”
Yadav is ranked as the number one T20 batter in the world and showed why as he hit eight huge sixes in a sparkling innings to lift India out of some early trouble. “Whatever the situation, I just go out there and enjoy myself. Whether it is my day or not. It is always good to get three figures in a T20 game but most important is the team winning,” he said.
He played down an ankle injury that forced him from the field early in South Africa’s paltry reply of 95 to India’s total of 201 for seven in their 20 overs.
“It is not looking that bad. I can walk, so it is all good,” Yadav said.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram was not daunted by India’s mammoth total but felt the wicket changed character in the second innings.
“We weren’t too unhappy with that 200 to be honest, we thought it was chaseable,” he said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t get it done tonight. The pitch did get lower and slower. When they (India) were batting it looked like they could hit it anywhere.”
The teams start a three-match One-Day International series on Sunday at the same venue, before further matches in Gqeberha on Tuesday and Paarl next Thursday.
BRIEF SCORESIndia 201-7 in 20 overs (Y Jaiswal 60, S Yadav 100; K. Maharaj 2-26, L. Williams 2-46) v South Africa 95 all out in 13.5 overs (D. Miller 35; R. Jadeja 2-25, Kuldeep Yadav 5-17)
Result: India won by 106 runs
Series: The three-match series was tied 1-1
Toss: South Africa