India pacers thrive on the Greenfield
CHENNAI: The pitch at the Greenfield Stadium couldn’t have been more green. On a nicely rolled out green carpet, the seamers were going to be in the game all evening. And India’s new ball bowlers, Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh, put the contest to bed inside three overs as they took five South Africa wickets for just nine runs on board in 2.3 overs. The early blows meant the Proteas never recovered and posted only 106 /8 on board and a watchful India chased the target in 16.4 overs (110/2) to leave Thiruvanathampuram with a 1-0 in the three-match series.
While the win would be a morale booster for India, the conditions on offer meant there was nothing to take home about. These were far from ideal conditions for teams preparing for the T20 World Cup Down in Australia. Down Under, no team will encounter conditions similar to what the hosts and South Africa encountered at Greenfield, where the pitch just looked an extension of the outfield.
In cricket, irrespective of the format, the contest is dead the moment the 22-yards fails to find an apt balance between bat and ball. And in T20s, where crowds turn up in numbers to see batters dominate the bowlers, the balance more often shifts more towards the former. It is the norm of the format and expectancy world over. Had they swapped the white-ball with a red, it would have made for a good contest, especially when you saw batters play and miss deliveries trying to defend.
In that context, these were challenging conditions for batters to showcase their array of shots. The story was similar for both South Africa and India batters, but sans scoreboard pressure and required run-rate less than six, the hosts could afford to be watchful and cut down risky shots. They had had their lowest-ever powerplay total of 17/1. But unbeaten half-centuries from KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav completed the job for India.
If India had the luxury of chasing a small total, South Africa had no such getaways. All it required from Chahar and Arshdeep was to land the ball in the right lengths and let their natural ability to move the ball both ways take over. And the right-arm, left-arm pair did exactly that. Whenever they pitched it up and made the ball move, they were in with a chance and with batters constantly looking to keep the scoreboard moving, they were made to play away from the body and as a result, the two seamers got to open the defences at will.
Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller perished staying rooted the crease, with minimum foot movement to offer. Tristan Stubbs perished going after a wide delivery to leave Proteas tottering at 9/5. Their lower-order, especially Keshav Maharaj, did a commendable job to bat out the innings. It was no doubt a horrid show with the bat, but South Africa will not be reading too much about the result, just like India.
Back trouble for Bumrah
In a big worry for India, Jasprit Bumrah missed the first T20I after complaining of back pain on Tuesday. He had missed the Asia Cup because of back injury.
Brief scores: South Africa 106/8 in 20 ovs (Maharaj 41; Arshdeep 3/32, Chahar 2/24) lost to India 110/2 in 16.4 ovs (Rahul 51 n.o, Suryakumar 50 n.o).