Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep topple over South Africa’s top order; reduce them to 5 for 9 in 3 overs
The best sight in cricket is not when a batter is hitting them to the bleachers. A real gem of a sight in cricket is when a pace bowler is swinging the ball around. Giving the batters a run for their money.
And we got to witness a sight like this in the first T20I between India and South Africa. Played in Kerala’s Greenfield International Stadium, the ground lived up to the promise.
It had a green cover of grass over the pitch. Hence, it brought with it hefty amount of swing. And Indian pacers took the most advantage of it.
Swing duo of Chahar and Arshdeep rattle SA top order
The two Indian pacers, Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh were making a comeback to the team replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. And had great shoes to fill.
They did just that by picking up 5 wickets in the first 3 overs itself.
Deepak Chahar was the first bowler to draw some blood. He dismissed South African captian Bavuma for a four ball duck. It was one of those perfect example of setting up the batter by Chahar.
He got three balls to move out, that set the batter up. And then one riveting in swinger caught Bavuma on the crease and dismantled his stumps. From there onwards it was a Arshdeep Singh show.
The youngster from Punjab was making his comeback after a small niggle. And he made the ball do the talking as he dismissed de Kock, Riley Russouw and David Miller in the same over.
It was a lose shot by de Kock outside off that ended up in stumps. Rossouw too was dismissed in the same fashion, only he was caught behind while driving outside off. The best wicket of the over was that of David Miller who was castled on the very first ball of his inning.
Deepak Chahar continued his momentum to remove Strubbs for a golden duck as well. And reduced the South Africans to 5 for 9 in just third over of the game.
Keshav Maharaj to the reque
However, an adamant inning by Keshav Maharaj saved the skins for South Africa. From being 5 for 9, they made a great recovery and all the credit goes to Maharaj.
The spinner played a sensible knock of 41 from 35 deliveries that helped his team score a total of 106 in their 20 overs. Now it is up to their bowlers to make an early impact if they are to salvage anything from this game.
