India seeks series-levelling win over SA in 3rd T20I

JOHANNESBURG: The Indian bowlers will come under sharp scrutiny in the team’s effort to merge the immediate task of series-levelling and the distant target of finding an ideal combination for next year’s T20 World Cup during the third and final match against South Africa here on Thursday.

The second T20I against the Proteas was a microcosm of the struggles this next-line Indian bowlers have gone through more often than not over the last three weeks.

Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and his right-arm colleague Mukesh Kumar were carted around by South African opener Reeza Hendricks, leaking 15.50 and 11.33 runs per over and they need to regroup in a day’s time.

Of course, rain and dew made their task a bit tough at Port Elizabeth but the pair lacked the imagination or control while bowling in a rather unfavourable environment.

The non-availability of pacer Deepak Chahar for personal reasons have added to the bowling woes.

Arshdeep and Mukesh are the bowlers the management trusts to produce forceful efforts in the absence of seniors like Jasprit Bumrah.

But this reserve bench hasn’t been able to vindicate that faith so far, many times finding themselves in deep waters.

In fact, the 4-1 score-line in the recent home T20I series victory over Australia has cleverly papered over some flaws in this bowling unit.

Arshdeep Singh had bowled a brilliant last over in the fifth T20I at Bengaluru at Aussies but that apart the pacer struggled to find his range in the series where he conceded 10.68 runs per over across four matches for as many wickets.

BRIEF SCORES: SECOND T20I: India 180/7 in 19.3 overs (R Singh 68, SK Yadav 56, G Coetzee 3/32) lost to South Africa 154/5 in 13.5 overs (R Hendricks 49). SA won by 5 wickets with 7 balls remaining on DLS method