The men in blue played some brilliant cricket to beat South Africa in the colored jersey following their 2-1 loss in the Test series. India came back stronger to script history as they won two back-to-back series in the Rainbow Nation.
India continued their good run from the ODIs as they beat South Africa in the first T20I fixture. However, South Africa came from behind to effect a surprising win in the second game. In conclusion, India held their nerves in the series-decider to clinch the trophy as the game went to the wires.
Meanwhile, there were notable performances from both the teams which were lauded by the cricketing world. From Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s five-wicket haul in the opener to Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni’s wonderful partnership followed Heinrich Klaasen’s hammering in his first assignment for his country. Stand-in skipper JP Duminy also played a part in the last two games.
Further, another notable performer was Junior Dala, who impressed everybody in his debut series. He led the South African bowling attack in the absence of their premier pacers, who are currently preparing for the Test series against Australia.
Here is the combined XI consisting of best players from the T20I series between South Africa and India:
Shikhar Dhawan:
The swashbuckling opener from India was one of the notable performers throughout the limited overs series. He along with Virat Kohli laid the foundations for India followed by some useful contributions in the middle order.
Meanwhile, Dhawan was the highest run-scorer for India scoring 143 runs from three games including a fifty. He looked in good touch as India posted massive challenges on the scoreboard.
Reeza Hendricks:
South African opener Reeza Hendricks was amongst the runs in the T20I series. He also registered a timely half-century in the first T20. However, it went in vain.
Hendricks looked good among the openers scoring some runs in all the fixtures and hence got ahead of Rohit Sharma.
Suresh Raina:
The comeback man Suresh Raina made useful contributions in all the fixtures. He scored 88 runs in the three games and picked up a crucial wicket in the third encounter.
Raina was promoted as the one drop batsman with Kohli dropping to fourth provided stability in India’ middle-order.
Virat Kohli (C):
Although Kohli didn’t have an outstanding series with the bat, he led his team brilliantly. However, Kohli missed the last game with a back injury.
However, his scores of 26 and one may not match his standard but looked in good touch as he carried it from the one-dayers.
JP Duminy:
The experienced all-rounder Duminy led his team from the front adding valuable contributions in the middle-order.
Duminy registered two consecutive fifties helping his team to provide a strong fight against India.
Manish Pandey:
Manish Pandey got starts on all the three games. He scored 121 runs including an unbeaten 75 pairing with Dhoni. However, it went in the losing cause.
Also, Pandey remained unbeaten on 29 in the first game as India won the match comfortably.
Heinrich Klaasen (WK):
Wicket-keeper batsmen Heinrich Klassen was he find for South Africa in this tour. He replaced injured Quinton de Kock as grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
Klassen scored 92 runs best from three games with strike-rate of over 191.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar:
The seamer form India was the man of the series following his outstanding spells. Kumar returned with seven wickets including a fifer in the first game. Further, Kumar kept his nerves in the last overs to bring home the trophy.
Further, he led the bowling attack as one and all lauded India’s pace bowling.
Jasprit Bumrah:
Bumrah is currently one of the best in the business in this format. His timely yorkers and slower deliveries make him the rarest edition.
Although, he didn’t pick too many wickets but kept it tight for the South African batsmen.
Junior Dala:
The young fast-bowler was impressive for South Africa in the absence of star bowlers. Dala bagged 7 wickets from 3 games providing early breakthroughs in all the games.
With the long Australia series looming ahead, Dala can be a perfect backup to the first choice pacers.
Tabraiz Shamsi:
With short boundaries and dew coming in the later part of the game, the spinners found it tough to grip the ball. Spinner from both the teams went for plenty, however, keeping the wickets column in mind Shamsi got through ahead of Chahal.
Shamsi had two scalps to his name, thus moving ahead of India’s Yuzvendra Chahal.
Further, here is the newsfeed:
Bhuvi jumps to 12th, Kohli drops to 6th in T20I rankings
India receives Test championship mace
Highlights from India’s tour to South Africa