South Africa beat India by five wickets in T20 World Cup to move top of Super 12 Group 2 | Cricket News

October 30, 2022 admin

David Miller hit the winning runs after Aiden Markram punished India’s fielding errors as South Africa won a seesaw fixture in Perth by five wickets to move top of T20 World Cup Super 12 Group 2.

Markram (52 off 41) was dropped by Virat Kohli at deep midwicket on 35, while he would have been run out one run later had India skipper Rohit Sharma not missed the stumps from close range.

Markram holed out in the 16th over with South Africa needing a further 34 runs from 27 balls to top India’s 133-9, with his dismissal ending a fourth-wicket stand of 76 from 60 balls with Miller from 24-3 in the sixth over.

But Miller guided his side home, relieving some of the pressure when he boomed Ravichandran Ashwin for back-to-back sixes in the 18th over and then hitting the victory-clinching runs off Bhuvneshwar Kumar from the fourth ball of the final over.

The Proteas had needed six from six balls at the start of the 20th over but a dot and a Wayne Parnell single were followed by Miller gloving a short ball down the leg-side for four before chopping the next over cover.

South Africa’s win leaves them unbeaten and on five points from three games – their other results were a rain-off against Zimbabwe and a 104-run demolition of Bangladesh – with India in second spot after suffering their first defeat of the campaign, having started with wins over Pakistan and Netherlands.

South Africa’s win unhelpful for Pakistan

The win was bad news for Pakistan’s chances of reaching the semi-finals.

Their hopes will be over if they lose to South Africa in Sydney on Thursday but even if Babar Azam’s men beat the Proteas and Bangladesh to take their haul to six points, that will not be enough if India defeat Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and South Africa knock off Netherlands in their final match.

Sunday’s clash at Optus Stadium was a real oscillating affair, with India sinking to 49-5 inside nine overs – Lungi Ngidi (4-29) dismissing the illustrious quartet of Rohit (15), KL Rahul (9), Kohli (12) and Hardik Pandya (2) – before Suryakumar Yadav’s 68 from 40 balls propelled his side to 133-9.

In South Africa’s reply, left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh dismissed Quinton de Kock (1) from the first ball of the second over and then trapped Rileee Rossouw lbw for nought two balls later after a successful review as he inflicted a duck on a player who had scored centuries in his last two T20 international innings, against Bangladesh on Thursday and previously against India on October 4.

Temba Bavuma’s struggles continued when he snicked Mohammed Shami behind at the end of the powerplay to fall for 10 from 15 balls and South Africa were 40-3 after 10 overs, needing a further 94 from 60 deliveries at that point.

However, Markram and Miller started finding the fence after drinks and although Markram and Tristan Stubbs (6) departed in the death overs, South Africa triumphed.

More to follow.