South Africa’s stand-in captain David Miller was disappointed after his team suffered an ignominious defeat of seven wickets in the deciding third ODI against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Tuesday. Miller admitted that it was tough to get going on a two-paced pitch after they were skittled out for 99 runs, their fourth-lowest score in ODI cricket.
The Proteas were put into bat by Shikhar Dhawan after he won the toss. As the pitch was under the covers due to rain, the track was damp and the Indian bowlers were able to make the most of it.
Washington Sundar provided the first breakthrough as he sent back Quinton de Kock and South Africa kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The India spin trio of Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Kuldeep Yadav scalped eight wickets collectively between them to breathe down the neck of the South African batters.
Sundar and Ahmed scalped two wickets apiece whereas Yadav took four wickets to keep the visitors on the backfoot. The Indian spinners were right on the money and the South African batters once again could not get going.
Meanwhile, Heinrich Klaasen top-scored with 34 runs for the tourists but the rest of the batters failed to show any gumption on a difficult pitch.
On the other hand, India chased the target of 100 runs in 19.1 overs with Shubman Gill top-scoring with 49 runs. Thus, India came up with a dominant performance with the ball and it was always going to be a cakewalk for them with the bat.
David Miller said in the post-match presentation, “It was very tough. Didn’t help to score just 99. Disappointing result today, to finish off the series in that way. There was a bit of spin, and it was two-paced, it was tacky as it was under covers due to the rain. We were really good in certain areas, we managed to find our feet. We just need to extend the good periods when it comes to ODIs.”
South Africa will be disappointed with their batting performance as they could not get going. However, the Proteas will look to make a solid comeback in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
