Pacers shine as India bowl out South Africa for 117

Dharamsala, Dec 14 (PTI) Pacers produced a mesmerizing spell of swing bowling as India bundled out South Africa to a below-par 117 in the third T20I of the five-match series here on Sunday.

Leading India’s show with early wickets were Arshdeep Singh (2/13), Harshit Rana (2/34) and Hardik Pandya (1/23) after the hosts chose to bowl.

Skipper Aiden Markram offered the lone spark for South Africa with a spirited 46-ball 61.

Undoubtedly, the brightest stars under a cool sky were India’s quick bowlers, who procured lethal swing and lateral movement with the new ball.

It had its effect on the low-key power play effort of South Africa -- 25 for three -- and the phase contained just two fours.

Arshdeep, who had a horror outing at Mullanpur a couple of days back, redeemed himself with a dream first spell (3-0-9-1).

He bowled three deliveries angled away from Reeza Hendricks and then jagged one back to trap the South African opener leg before with the help of DRS.

Rana did precisely the same to Quinton de Kock, a nip-backer, trapping the frozen-legged left-hander inside the crease.

Dewald Brevis was slightly unfortunate to get castled while attempting a release shot off a wide delivery from Rana.

South Africa suddenly found themselves at 7 for 3 in 3.1 overs, and it was always going to be an uphill climb for them from there.

Markram crunched a couple of sweet drives in between to keep the board moving but Tristan Stubbs and Corbin Bosch departed in quick succession to further derail South African innings.

Stubbs’ wicket helped all-rounder Pandya to complete 100 wickets in T20Is, the third Indian bowler to do so after Arshdeep and Jasprit Bumrah, who did not play this match after returning home to attend to a personal situation.

The BCCI said his availability for the remainder of the series will be announced in due course.

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2/11 in 4 overs) too reached to a milestone, capturing his 50th T20I wicket while flattening the stumps of Donovan Ferreira (20, 15 balls).

The big-hitting Ferreria was dropped on 13 by Arshdeep at long-on off Shivam Dube, but that did not hurt India.

Chakravarthy cut open the lower-order with his bottomless bag of tricks as the pitch also continued to offer good pace and carry.

The spinner also added the wicket of Marco Jansen to keep South Africa pinned to the mat.

Markram completed his fifty off 41 balls with a slashed six off Rana, as the 18th over produced 19 runs. But the South African surge came tad too late. PTI UNG PDS PDS