BANGALORE: South Africa captain Quinton de Kock hit an unbeaten 79 off 52 balls and powered his side to a series-leveling nine-wicket victory over India in their third and final Twenty20 International on Sunday.

India missed a chance to win a first-ever Twenty20 series against South Africa on home soil after winning the toss and scoring only 134-9 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

De Kock and Reeza Hendricks (28 off 26) put on a rapid 76 off 61 for the opening wicket on a friendly batting surface as South Africa went on to reach 140-1 in 16.5 overs.

Hardik Pandya (1-23) got the lone wicket for India but it didn’t deter South Africa. De Kock and Temba Bavuma (27 not out) put on 64 as the visitors romped home in style. Bavuma ended the match with a huge six.

De Kock then anchored the chase with his second successive half-century on a pitch where teams usually opt to bat second.

The left-handed de Kock, who was recently named captain in the shortest format and made 52 in a losing cause on Wednesday after the opening match was washed out, smashed six fours and five sixes.

But it was Beuran Hendricks’ bowling effort that set the tone for the Proteas’ victory, with the left-arm quick the only change in the XI, grabbing two wickets for 14 runs before being named man-of-the-match.

The hosts lost three of their top batsmen early, including Kohli for nine.

Kohli insisted he did not regret his decision to bat first, adding the team will challenge itself in the lead up to the ICC 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.”

India won the second Twenty20 in Mohali by seven wickets, while the first match in Dharamsala was washed out.

“I think we kept it nice and simple. Focused on hitting a good length. Our spinners kept it tight too,” said de Kock, who was named man-of-the-series. “Beuran bowled really well, he’s got the skills. Sometimes it’s better on these wickets to take the pace off.”

The two teams now head into a three-match Test series starting Oct 2 in Visakhapatnam.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

S. Dhawan c Bavuma b Shamsi 36

R.G. Sharma c R. Hendricks b B. Hendricks 9

V. Kohli c Phehlukwayo b Rabada 9

R.R. Pant c Phehlukwayo b Fortuin 19

S.S. Iyer st de Kock b Fortuin 5

H.H. Pandya c Miller b Rabada 14

K.H. Pandya c de Kock b B. Hendricks 4

R.A. Jadeja c and b Rabada 19

Washington Sundar run out 4

D.L. Chahar not out 0

N.A. Saini not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-12) 15

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 134

FALL OF WKTS: 1-22, 2-63, 3-68, 4-90, 5-91, 6-98, 7-127, 8-133, 9-133.

BOWLING: Fortuin 3-0-19-2 (1w); Rabada 4-0-39-0 (8w); B.E. Hendricks 4-0-14-2 (3w); Phehlukwayo 4-0-28-0; Shamsi 4-0-23-1; Pretorius 1-0-8-0.

SOUTH AFRICA:

R.R. Hendricks c Kohli b H. Pandya 28

Q. de Kock not out 79

T. Bavuma not out 27

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-4) 6

TOTAL (for one wkt, 16.5 overs) 140

FALL OF WKT: 1-76.

DID NOT BAT: H.E. van der Dussen, D.A. Miller, D. Pretorius, A.L. Phehlukwayo, B.C. Fortuin, K. Rabada, B.E. Hendricks, T. Shamsi

BOWLING: Washington Sundar 4-0-27-0; Chahar 3-0-15-0 (1w); Saini 2-0-25-0; K.H. Pandya 3.5-0-40-0 (1w); H.H. Pandya 2-0-23-1 (2w); Jadeja 2-0-8-0.

RESULT: South Africa won by nine wickets to level three-match 1-1.

UMPIRES: C. Shamshuddin (India) and A.K. Chaudhary (India).

TV UMPIRE: N.N. Menon (India).

MATCH REFEREE: R.B. Richardson (West Indies).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Beuran Hendricks.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Quinton de Kock.

FIRST MATCH: Dharamsala, abandoned.

SECOND MATCH: Mohali,India won by seven wickets.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2019