India vs SA, 4th T20I, 2022, Top Performances: DK 55, Avesh 4-18 demolish SA; B'luru awaits decider

India vs SA, 4th T20I, 2022, Top Performances: Dinesh Karthik's 55, Avesh Khan's 4-18 and Harshal Patel's 1-3 are top three performances. India beat South Africa in the 4th T20I.

Dinesh Karthik gets player of the match for his 55 off 27 (Images ©BCCI)

Brief Scores: India 169-6 (Karthik 55, Pandya 46, Ngidi 20/2) beat SA 87 (van der Dussen 20, Avesh 18/4, Chahal 21/2, Harshal 3/1) by 82 runs

Player of the Match: Dinesh Karthik (55 off 27 deliveries)

India and South Africa clashed heads with each other at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium in Rajkot on Friday. In the ongoing five-match T20I series between the two nations, South Africa won the first two games and India kept the series alive by winning the third game by 48 runs.

South Africa won the toss and opted to field first

Protea skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and chose to field first. India didn’t make any changes in their playing eleven from the previous game whereas South Africa had to make two forced changes due to injuries. Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell missed out due to injuries whereas Reeza Hendricks was also excluded from the eleven. Quinton de Kock, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi returned in the playing eleven for this game.

India won by 82 runs and equalised the T20I series

India lost their top-order quickly. However, a 65-run partnership between Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik for the fifth wicket bailed out India from their slumber. Karthik smashed his maiden fifty in just 26 deliveries to help his side reach 169-6 in 20 overs.

South Africa lost their captain Temba Bavuma in the fourth over due to an injury to the elbow while facing speedster Avesh Khan and their innings went downhill from that point on. They lost Quinton de Kock, Dwaine Pretorius and Heinrich Klaasen in the space of just five overs. Also, India’s spinners kept the opponent batters under pressure. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal bagged two wickets and pacer Avesh Khan scalped four to shoot down the visitors on a paltry score of just 87 runs. Thus, India won the fourth T20I match by a huge margin of 82 runs and levelled the series 2-2 with one match to go.

Let’s scan the top three performances from the fourth T20I between India and South Africa.

Pandya-Karthik put on a 65-run partnership of 33 for 5th wicket (Images ©BCCI)

Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya stitched a partnership of 65 runs for the fifth wicket

As India lost their top three batters in just seven overs, next batter Hardik Pandya tried to stitch a partnership with skipper Rishabh Pant to bail out India from a precarious situation. After taking a few balls to settle, Pandya smoked two huge sixes off spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.

After the wicket of Pant in the thirteenth over, next batter Dinesh Karthik looked in fine touch from the start and cracked a boundary off the second delivery he faced. Karthik and Pandya smacked one boundary each in the same over of Anrich Nortje to garner 15 runs. Karthik continued his assault on Protea bowlers and pummelled three boundaries in one over of spinner Keshav Maharaj.

Karthik wreaked havoc on the pitch by going against every opponent bowler. He slog-swept a humongous six over deep square leg off a delivery bowled by pacer Dwaine Pretorius and followed it with two back-to-back boundaries.

In the penultimate over, Hardik Pandya whipped a towering six over deep mid-wicket boundary, however, pacer Ngidi hit back by dismissing Pandya. Pandya made 46 runs off 31 deliveries with the help of three fours and three sixes.

In the final over, Karthik completed his maiden T20I fifty in just 26 deliveries by clobbering a huge six over cow corner. He tried to go for another six on the next delivery but got caught by Rassie van der Dussen. Karthik made 55 runs off just 27 deliveries. He cracked nine fours and two sixes in his stupendous knock. The next batter Axar Patel finished the innings by smashing a four to third man boundary to help India reach 169-6 in 20 overs.

Due to the miraculous knock of Karthik, India made 113 runs in the second half of the innings. Also, Karthik's whirlwind knock helped India make 73 runs in the last five overs.

Read More: India vs SA, 2nd T20I, 2022, Top Performances: Heinrich Klassen’s 81 overpowers India; SA 2-0 up

Harshal Patel knocks David Miller off in his 2nd over (Images ©BCCI)

Harshal Patel cleaned up David Miller

While chasing a moderate target of 170 runs, South Africa openers had to face accurate pace bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel. Patel conceded only three runs in the first over and put opponent batters under pressure. Visitors lost three wickets in the first ten overs.

Seamer Harshal Patel returned to bowl his second bowling spell and uprooted the stumps of David Miller to give the fourth blow to the visitors. Harshal conceded only three runs in two overs.

Read More: India vs SA, 3rd T20I, 2022, Top Performances: Harshal's 4-fer, Chahal's 3-20 ensure India's 1st win

Avesh Khan takes 4-18 against SA in 4th T20I at Rajkot (Images ©BCCI)

Speedster Avesh Khan bagged a four-wicket haul

South Africa lost their openers in the first five overs. India’s pacers - Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel - dominated the powerplay with their economical bowling. With dot ball pressure mounting, one down batter Pretorius succumbed to it and tried to go hard against Avesh. The ball took the under-edge of the bat and went in the gloves of wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. Pretorius made a six-ball duck.

After 13 overs, skipper Pant called his trump card Avesh back in the attack. Avesh finished any hope of resistance from Proteas by dismissing three batters in one over. He first removed Rassie van der Dussen and then foxed Marco Jansen with his leg-cutter. Also, he dismissed Keshav Maharaj for a precocious duck on the last delivery of the over. Avesh bowled another over and conceded only six runs. He bagged a total of four wickets in his quota of four overs and conceded only 18 runs. Due to his deadly bowling, South Africa got all-out on just 87 and India won the match by a huge margin of 82 runs.

What’s to Come

India and South Africa now move to Bengaluru where they will face off in the series decider on June 19 under lights

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