Mumbai Indians

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India completed a spectacular comeback into the five-match T20I series as they beat South Africa by 48 runs in the third T20I at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

While Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) and Ishan Kishan (54) shone with the bat by hitting half-centuries, Harshal Patel (4/25) and Yuzvendra Chahal (3/20) helped the Men in Blue defend a score of 179 with five balls to spare.

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma opted to bowl first upon winning the toss for the third consecutive time in the T20I series. Both teams, surprisingly, decided to field an unchanged playing XI from the second T20I at Cuttack.

India got off to a scintillating start as they reached 50 in 5.3 overs, including a fruitful 5th over where Ruturaj Gaikwad slammed five consecutive boundaries off Anrich Nortje. The Men in Blue would end the powerplay phase at 57/0.

With seven boundaries and two sixes in 30 balls, Gaikwad reached his maiden fifty in T20 Internationals. A timely relief after his scores of 23 and 1 in the opening two games of the five-match T20I series.

However, the opener departed five deliveries later after he chipped a Keshav Maharaj delivery straight on and the Proteas spinner completed a diving caught dismissal.

Taking cue from his opening partner, Ishan Kishan notched his second fifty of the series as he reached the mark in 31 deliveries.

Shreyas Iyer, who stepped in at no.3, survived an LBW scare from Tabraiz Shamsi in the 13th over but he would be dismissed two deliveries later. His sweep shot found Anrich Nortje at square leg.

Shortly after, Kishan walked back to the pavilion after Dwaine Pretorius’ off-cutter delivery forced the left-hander to play a shot that met the hands of Rezza Hendricks at deep square leg.

After a couple of missed catches, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma took the catch of India captain Rishabh Pant with the latter scoring just six runs.

India reached 150 in 17.3 overs, and post the dismissal of Dinesh Karthik in the penultimate over, the hosts posted a first innings total of 179/5 in 20 overs.

South Africa’s run chase of 180 began with a slow start, with captain Temba Bavuma dismissed for eight runs in the fourth over.

The Proteas ended their powerplay phase at 38/2, with Rezza Hendricks being Harshal Patel’s first wicket off the final ball of his first over. He hit Patel’s slow delivery up in the sky only for Yuzvendra Chahal to comfortably take the catch.

The Indian spinner would pocket a wicket himself as he pitched the ball towards leg-side, hitting the outside edge of Rassie van der Dussen’s bat and Rishabh Pant collecting a gifted dismissal.

Dwaine Pretorius showed some signs of reviving South Africa’s batting, as he got them past 50 in 8.3 overs. However, his time was cut short as the Chahal-Pant partnership stood out once again.

Chahal’s flat delivery forced Pretorius to dab it but the ball clipped the outside edge and Rishabh Pant completed another catch behind the stumps. The all-rounder walked off with 20 runs off 16 balls.

South Africa lost a potential match-winner in David Miller as the middle-order chips an off-cutter from Harshal Patel which finds Rutaraj Gaikwad at extra cover. The fielder had to take a little leap to complete the important dismissal.

Shortly after the Proteas reached 100 in 14.4 overs, Heinrich Klaasen became Yuzvendra Chahal’s third victim of the night after the former tossed a full delivery towards the offside where Axar Patel completed a safe catch.

Harshal Patel picked up his third wicket of the night as Kagiso Rabada slashed his short and wide off delivery towards deep point, where Chahal was waiting and completed a catch dismissal with ease.

With the game approaching its end, Bhuvneshwar Kumar grabbed his first wicket of the fixture as his slow leg cutter delivery to Keshav Maharaj was lofted towards Dinesh Karthik.

Two balls later, Rishabh Pant and Bhuvi would combine to get Anrich Nortje run out after a miscommunication between Nortje and Wayne Parnell.

Harshal Patel wrapped up a convincing win for India as Tabraiz Shamsi lofted the first ball of his final over to long-on, where Avesh Khan took a safe catch.

The T20I series is now 2-1 in favour of South Africa, and India will hope to build on tonight’s win when the teams reconvene for the fourth T20I at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium in Rajkot on Friday, June 17.