India suffered a rare home thrashing, as they were beaten by South Africa A by 9 wickets in their third T20I in Bangalore.
With India winning the second match, and the first game lost to rain, it meant that the three-match series ended in a draw.
It was India who won the toss, and who got off to a fast start through Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, before Sharma was caught by Reeza Hendricks, with Beuran Hendricks the bowler. Dhawan and Virat Kohli added 41, but then both men fell in quick succession. Firstly, Dhawan, who had scored 36, including 2 sixes, was caught by Temba Bavuma off the spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, and then the home crowd were stunned when Kohli fell to fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, caught by Andile Phehlukwayo.
Risbabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer put on 22, but then there was a flurry of wickets. First Pant, who is under pressure for his place in the side, was caught by Phehlukwayo off the debutant Bjorn Fortuin, for 19. Then, in the next over he bowled, Fortuin had Iyer stumped. When Krunal Pandya was caught behind off Beuran Hendricks, India had slumped to 98 – 6.
Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja led a recovery with a partnership of 29 for the seventh wicket, but, in the desperate hurry for late run, three wickets fell in the last over bowled by Rabada. Off the first ball of the over, Jadeja was caught and bowled for 19, having managed one six. Two balls later Washington Sundar was run out, courtesy of Rabada himself, trying to run a quick single. And then, off the penultimate ball of the innings, Hardik Pandya was caught by David Miller for 14.
The final Indian total of 134 – 9 never looked like being enough, and so it proved, as Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock put on 76 for the first wicket in a little over 10 overs. Hendricks fell for 28, caught by Kohli off the bowling of Hardik Pandya, but de Kock and Bavuma cruised to victory, reaching their target with more than 3 overs to spare.
De Kock was undefeated on 79, having hit 5 sixes and 6 fours, whilst Bavuma finished 27 not out, having hit one six of his own.
The two teams will next meet in the three test series, which gets underway on October 2nd in Visakhapatnam, although some of the personnel on both sides are likely to be different.
