Picture Credit: Twitter
India and South Africa are back in action contesting a battle in the 3rd T20I. It started no differently for India as South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and invited India to bat first. Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad started the proceedings for India with the bat. While all thighs remained almost the same, there was one thing different in Tuesday’s game.
While it was Ishan Kishan who took on South African bowlers inside the powerplay in the first two T20Is, it was Ruturaj Gaikwad in the third match. The right-handed batter came with intent as he flicked Rabada for a maximum on the fourth ball of the third over. He then took on Anrich Nortje in the 5th over of the India innings.
Gaikwad hit a couple of consecutive boundaries convincingly against the Proteas pacer. However, Nortje made a remarkable comeback as he almost blew Gaikwad’s helmet off on the very next delivery with a venomous bounder. The right-arm quick bowled a well-directed bouncer which hit Gaikwad on his helmet and the batter was down on the ground while trying to save himself from it. Although Nortje got everything correct, the ball raced away to the boundary for another four runs.
Watch the video here:
Gaikwad stays unfazed!
Despite this helmet-knocking bouncer from Anrich Nortje, Ruturaj Gaikwad stayed unfazed and scored two more boundaries on the next two deliveries. Right on the next delivery, Gaikwad played a beautiful flick shot to bring forth consecutive boundaries in the over.
On the fifth ball of the over, Gaikwad got lucky as Tabraiz Shamsi could not get himself behind the ball and it ran away to the fence, making it five consecutive boundaries in the over. Although the batter could not get six of six, Gaikwad aggregated 20 runs in the over that set the tempo for India's innings ahead.