Deepak Chahar’s effort go in vain as India fail to chase down the target set by Proteas in final ODI
Want an interesting match? Call Deepak Chahar, as the pace bowler plays another stupendous inning in an attempt to take his side over the line in the third ODI against South Africa.
It was yet again one of those days for the Indian team when their middle order failed to calibrate enough runs to win the game. Chasing the target of 288, they were in a great position of winning the game when Kohli and Dhawan were batting.
Deepak Chahar to the rescue
But just like we have seen over time, wickets fell in quick succession. The South African bowlers managed to pick the wickets of Dhawan, Pant, and Kohli for just 40 runs.
As a result, India was reduced from 116/1 to 156/4, and suddenly the task of achieving the total looked ever so slightly hard. Shreyas Iyer and Surya Kumar put up a 39-run stand for the 5th wicket.
The former departed soon and was joined by Yadav in less than 3 overs leaving India with the daunting task of chasing down 78 runs in 10 overs.
That is when Deepak Chahar decided to step up and take charge of the condition. Batting alongside Jasprit Bumrah, Chahar decided to attack the Proteas bowlers.
In the 44th over, he took Proteas to the bleaches by smashing 2 sixes in the same over. Then he took on Ngidi, his former CSK teammate, to score 14 runs in the 46th over of the game to tilt the game completely in India’s favour.
He also brought up his second fifty in just eight innings. It took him just 31 balls to bring up the milestone. He smacked 5 fours and 2 sixes to score 54 runs off 34 balls before he was departed by Ngidi.
After his departure, Bumrah tried to go for the glory and fell short of it as Phehlukwayo claimed his wicket in the 49th over. The massive task of taking the team over the line was left to Chahal and Krishna, who failed in the final over as India lost the match by 4 crucial runs and 4 balls to go.
This victory helped South Africa complete the whitewash over a depleted looking Indian team.
