India vs South Africa: While some Indian players grabbed the opportunity with both the hands, others failed to live up to the expectations.
The recently-concluded India vs South Africa series saw an anti-climax as the decider match got washed out due to rain. However, by then, the spectators had already witnessed a neck-and-neck contest between the two sides that saw the series being drawn 2-2. It started with the Proteas’ authority and concluded with a memorable comeback by Team India. Though the final match couldn’t take place, the series gave a good opportunity to both the sides to test themselves ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
It is worth noting that the Indian team missed its key players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami in the series and hence it was a great opportunity for the side to test its bench strength.
While some players grabbed the opportunity with both hands, others failed to live up to the expectations. Here we have listed five talking points from the series from India’s point of view.
1. Ishan Kishan Rules The Roost
The southpaw meant business from the word go. He finished the series as the highest run-getter. Kishan scored 206 runs across five games at an average of 41.20 and a strike rate of 150.36. He scored two half-centuries in the series and the confidence in his batting was upfront.
2. Shreyas Iyer‘s struggle with the bat
Despite getting a couple of good starts in the series, Iyer failed to take his innings deep. The right-handed batter scored 94 runs across the first four games at an average of 23.50. His highest score in the series was 40.
3. Hardik Pandya back in finisher’s role
The star all-rounder’s versatility was once again the cynosure of all eyes after he played the finisher’s role to perfection despite playing a different role with the bat in IPL 2022. He scored 117 runs at an average of 58.50 and a strike rate of 153.94.
4. Dinesh Karthik‘s red-hot form
Be it IPL 2022 or international cricket, there is hardly anything that seems to be stopping Dinesh Karthik. Raring for a return to the national for long, Karthik grabbed his first opportunity with both the hands. He played the finisher’s role for India in the series with a strike rate of 158.62. In the fourth T20I, he had bagged the Player of the Match award for his 55 off 27.
5. Economical Bhuvneshwar Kumar
While the first T20I saw Bhuvneshwar Kumar leaking runs at almost 11 per over (43/1 in four overs), the rest of the three games saw him conceding at a rate of even less than six runs over. Overall, Bhuvi picked six wickets at an economy rate of 6.07.
Source:ndtvsports