Happy ending

Cape Town, February 24

Suresh Raina scored a quick-fire 43 and grabbed the key wicket of David Miller as India defeated hosts South Africa by seven runs to claim a 2-1 victory in their T20I series at Newlands. 

Sent in to bat, India, without injured captain Virat Kohli, posted 172/7 in their 20 overs before restricting South Africa to 165/6. Raina’s runs came from just 27 balls as he caressed five fours and a six, putting on 65 for the second wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (47 from 40 balls). Seamer Junior Dala (3/35) was the pick of the home bowlers as he posted career-best figures. South Africa made a sluggish start to their reply and were always behind the required run-rate.

Explosive Miller (24 off 23 balls) was elevated to open the batting, but was bogged down by the line of the Indian bowlers and fell to Raina (1/27) as he tried to up the tempo.

Only captain JP Duminy (55 off 41 balls) and debutant Christiaan Jonker (49 off 24 balls) were able to muster innings of substance. South Africa required 19 off the final over bowled by the excellent Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/24), but were restricted to just a single boundary to fall short of their target. India’s two-month tour of South Africa is now at an end. The home side won the Test series 2-1, but were thumped 5-1 in the ODIs. — Reuters

Scoreboard

India

R Sharma lbw b Dala 11

S Dhawan run out 47

S Raina c Behardien b Shamsi 43

M Pandey c Miller  b Dala 13

H Pandya c Klaaasenb Morris 21

MS Dhoni c Miller b Dala 12

D Karthik lbw b Morris 13

A Patel not out 1

B Kumar not out 3

Extras: (LB-2, NB-1, WD-5) 8

Total: (7 wickets in 20 overs) 172

Fall of wickets: 1-14 2-79 3-111 4-126 5-151 6-163 7-168

Bowling

C Morris 4-0-43-2

J Dala 4-0-35-3

JP Duminy 3-0-22-0

AL Phehlukwayo 3-0-26-0

T Shamsi 4-0-31-1

A Phangiso 2-0-13-0

South Africa

R Hendricks c Dhawan b Bhuvneshwar 7

D Miller c Patel b Raina 24

JP Duminy c Rohit b Thakur 55

H Klaasen c Bhuvneshwar b Pandya 7

C Jonker c Rohit b Bhuvneshwar 49

C Morris b Bumrah 4

F Behardien not out 15

Extras: (b-1, lb-1, w-2) 4

Total: (6 wickets in 20 overs) 165

Fall of wickets: 1-10 2-45 3-79 4-109 5-114 6-165 

Bowling

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-24-2

Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-39-1

Shardul Thakur 4-0-35-1

Hardik Pandya 4-0-22-1

Suresh Raina 3-0-27-1

Axar Patel 1-0-16-0

MoM: Suresh Raina