Picture Credit: Twitter
Rohit Sharma-led India could not end their home T20I season on a high as they lost their last fixture of the three-match series against South Africa by 49 runs. It was a rare off day for the batting unit in the absence of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. The Men in Blue played with a batter short but the damage was done in the first inning itself. The not-so-potent bowling attack conceded 227 in 20 overs and left a hefty task to be done.
South Africa rode on Rilee Rossouw’s prolific century (100* off 48 balls) and Quinton de Kock’s 43-ball 68. The Temba Bavuma-led team then struck at regular intervals to derail India’s chase and eventually clinched the game to get a consolation win. Meanwhile, India did put some fight with Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, and Deepak Chahar scoring runs at a brisk rate. However, it was a rare off-day for India’s best T20 batter at the moment, Suryakumar Yadav.
Sent in to bat at an unusual No.5, Yadav could not last long as he fell to a terrific catch from Tristan Stubbs after adding only eight runs to the total. While it did change the course of the game in South Africa’s favour, there was not much Yadav could have done. Nevertheless, India captain Rohit Sharma saw the funny side of SKY’s rare failure as he listed it as one of his prime concerns heading into the T20 World Cup.
Asked about the areas of concern for India after playing these two home series, Rohit started on a serious note by saying that there is always room for improvement. But as it is with Sharma, he sheepishly put in a punch line with a serious face. “Of course, speaking about areas of concern, there are a lot of areas we need to look at. To start with, Surya’s form is a big concern (smiles),” said Rohit at the post-match presentation.
Although the Indian captain tried quite hard to not laugh, he could not control himself and burst into laughter. Presenter Murali Kartik also joined in with a laugh, saying “I thought it would be the least of your concerns!”
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Notably, Suryakumar Yadav was adjudged Player of the Series for scoring 119 runs in three innings.