Rajkot, June 17 (Agency) Dinesh Karthik, the player of the match in India’s first ever T20 International way back in 2006, hit his first fifty in the format as the hosts staged an excellent comeback in the series to force a decider. Karthik hit a stunning 55 off just 27 balls in Rajkot on Friday (June 17) as South Africa let slip an excellent opportunity to keep India to a modest total. It might not have mattered anyway as their batters came up with a poor performance to fold for just 87 in pursuit of 170. He might have hit two half-centuries and then a 34 in his three outings so far prior to this but Ishan Kishan did struggle against the new ball bowlers on a surface where the seamers found assistance at the beginning. But it wasn’t only Ishan who struggled to get going. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer were back in the pavilion before him as the South African seamers made early inroads. The uneven bounce on the surface proved to be tough to handle for batters from both sides and by the seventh over, India were already three down with Anrich Nortje and the returning duo of Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi picking up a wicket each.
Rishabh Pant, who has been on the lookout for runs, managed to arrest the slide alongside Hardik Pandya. With nine overs of pace straight up, India were watchful before Pant finally decided to break the shackles once spin was introduced. By the halfway mark, India had only 56 on the board and something had to change for the home side to tilt the balance. While Hardik finally got going with back-to-back sixes off Tabraiz Shamsi, Pant gave South Africa another opening to capitalise on by chasing one wide delivery off Keshav Maharaj, only to find the short third man. This time, Karthik did come ahead of Axar Patel as India found themselves needing one massive push at the slog overs, considering they had only 96 on the board after 15 overs. The 16th over of the game is where it all began. Karthik took on Nortje to fetch three boundaries in the over and then took on Maharaj in the following over to again repeat his heroics as the crowd finally found their voice. Dwaine Pretorius was the next in line as Karthik gave him a hiding as well. After sweeping him for a six, the veteran hit the next two deliveries for boundaries as well to absolutely stun the opposition camp. While Ngidi did provide his side some respite in the penultimate over by removing Hardik after the vice-captain had smoked a six, Karthik continued to make merry and bring up a fifty off just 26 balls. India, in quite incredible fashion, managed to score 73 runs from those final five overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was accurate, Avesh Khan was hostile on this surface and the returning Quinton de Kock didn’t help matters as he self-destructed. South Africa made a terrible start with the bat. Temba Bavuma had to retire hurt after injuring his elbow and Pretorius was put out of his misery by Avesh as he fell for a six-ball duck. De Kock ran himself out to add to South Africa’s woes and the visitors found themselves reeling at 35/2 after the powerplay. They needed someone from that middle order to step up like Karthik did for India.There were huge hopes on David Miller given the kind of form he has been in. He did smoke one over cow corner in the same over Yuzvendra Chahal managed to trap Heinrich Klaasen leg-before-wicket. However, Harshal Patel let the pitch do the talking by bowling one straight to uproot the left-hander’s stumps. That dismissal definitely took India a step closer to victory with Bavuma not returning to the crease. And if that wasn’t enough, Avesh then ripped through the South African lineup with a three-wicket over that effectively ended the chase. The pacer removed Rassie van der Dussen, Jansen and Maharaj in the space of five deliveries as the visitors eventually crumbled a few overs later for 87. It will indeed be a miracle if the visitors manage to pull themselves up in less than 48 hours for the decider given how the complexion of the series has changed. Brief scores: India 169/6 in 20 overs; South Africa 87 in 16.5 overs.