An unbeaten half-century by skipper Quinton de Kock and paceman Beuran Hendricks’ strong performance with the ball helped South Africa thrash India by nine wickets to draw their Twenty20 series 1-1 on Sunday.
Hendricks returned figures of 2-14 to restrict India to 134-9 after skipper Virat Kohli’s surprising decision to bat first in the third and final match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
De Kock then anchored the chase with his 79 — his second successive half-century — off 52 balls on a pitch where teams usually opt to bat second.
The left-handed De Kock, who made 52 in a losing cause on Wednesday last week after the opening match was washed out, smashed six fours and five sixes.
Kohli said that he did not regret his decision to bat first, adding that India would challenge themselves in the buildup to the Twenty20 World Cup next year.
“Exactly what we wanted to do and that’s going to be the template we’ll follow for games we have before the World Cup,” Kohli said before sharing the trophy with De Kock. “We will have games like this where we don’t execute what we want, but as long as the intent is there to improve, we’ll be in a good zone.”
De Kock put on 76 runs with opening partner Reeza Hendricks, who made 28, and then an unbeaten partnership of 64 with Temba Bavuma, 27 not out, to steer the team home.
However, it was Beuran Hendricks’ bowling effort that set the tone for the victory, with the left-armer the only change in the XI.
The hosts lost three of their top batsmen early, including Kohli for 9.
Rohit Sharma was the first to go for 9, caught at slip off Beuran Hendricks, while fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan made 36.
Paceman Kagiso Rabada took Kohli’s scalp after the star batsman holed out to the deep square-leg boundary.
“I think we kept it nice and simple. Focused on hitting a good length. Our spinners kept it tight too,” De Kock said. “Beuran bowled really well, he’s got the skills. Sometimes it’s better on these wickets to take the pace off.”
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