Suryakumar Yadav paces his innings to perfection, Kuldeep shines with ball as India level series | Cricket News

India have put all their eggs in the specials’ basket, more necessity than choice in the two white-ball formats. It may not be the best strategy usually, given the direction the game is taking, but if the batsmen do their job and the bowlers hold their end of the bargain, there isn’t much to worry about.That’s what happened at the Wanderers in the the third T20I as Suryakumar Yadav powered India to 201/7 with a 56-ball 100 – his fourth in the format – before the special bowlers reduced South Africa to 42/4 at the start of the 7th over. There was no coming back from that and the home team was bundled out for a mere 95 in 13.5 overs for a 106-run win to draw the series 1-1. Kuldeep Yadav made it a memorable birthday with figures of 5/17 in 2.5 overs.
The stage was set the first over bowled Mohammed Siraj, which would have made purs drool in a Test match, let alone the 20-over format. Reeza Hendricks needed to get the hosts off to a fast start and made every effort, but what ensued was six back-to-back play-and-misses, as the opener was beaten on the outside edge. Being unable to make contact, Hendricks was frustrated enough to give Siraj the charge on the last ball of the over, missing it completely and the ball just evading the off-stump.
Defending 201, which many believed to be a sub-par total on a small ground at high altitude with a flat pitch, a maiden over was the perfect start, even though it didn’t bring a wicket.
The ploy to not give the new ball to Arshdeep Singh paid off big time as it was Mukesh Kumar who reaped the benefit at the other end as Matthew Breetzke played on to his stumps while attempting a forcing shot off the backfoot.
Siraj eventually got Hendricks, but not in the way he would have envisaged – via a direct hit from mid-on which found the opener short of his ground at the bowler’s end.
Arshdeep came on to bowl and got the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen and when the pitch began to aid spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep in all sorts of ways – turn, grip and variable bounce – the writing was on the wall.

Surya, the designated captain for the series, twed his ankle while fielding pretty early in the chase and didn’t tak any further part in the game. But then, he had played a big role in getting India to a total that turned out to be way beyond the Proteas’ reach.
Coming in to bat at 29/2 in the third over, the skipper struggled for rhythm early on in his innings, barely exceeding a run a ball in strike rate. But whatever one says about his utility in the longer forms of the game, Surya understands the dynamics of the 20-over game perfectly. He had scored 27 in 25 balls, content to allow the impressive Yashasvi Jaiswal to take the leading role in the partnership, knowing fully well that he had the ability to explode and make up at any juncture.
Waiting to strike
And so it turned out. An inside-out six over extra-cover off the impressive Keshav Maharaj got Surya going, but it was the 13th over bowled the military medium pacer Andile Phehlukwayo that really opened the floodgates. Three sixes – two over wide long-on , and one over deep midwicket off a slower leg-cutter – as well as a deft glide past short third brought 23 runs in the over, and there was no looking back.
Before the skipper upped the ante, it was up to Jaiswal to keep the run rate at an acceptable level. Even when Surya was sedate, India were still going at around nine runs an over. It was only Maharaj, who kept the Indians in check, his four overs going for a mere 26 runs. It was the left-arm spinner who gave South Africa some breathing room after Jaiswal and Shubman Gill had plundered 28 in the first two overs. The latter was adjudged LBW, though he would have survived had he challenged the on-field decision. Tilak Varma holed out to mid-off on the first ball, and suddenly the concerns about the long tail would have surfaced. But those worries were put to rest the 112-run third-wicket stand in 69 balls. However, even in the midst of this carnage, the 15th over bowled Maharaj went for just three runs, bowling to the explosive pairing of Surya and Rinku Singh.
The help that Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi got in the first half of the game had filled Jaiswal with confidence that India had an adequate total on the board. And his assessment was more than justified with the conditions seemed considerably more bowler-friendly in the second innings, something that was often seen when India bowled under lights during the recent 50-over World Cup.
The T20 series in South Africa was the last one for India overseas before the World Cup about six months down the line in the Caribbean and the United States. Many senior players were not in the mix and it’s up to the team management and selectors to decide whether they will be part of the plan for the big event.
Thursday’s win maintained India’s long unbeaten record in bilateral T20 series. They have won most of the deciders and must-win games in this context. Whatever happens in big games at big ICC tournaments, then, is anybody’s guess.