A superb bowling performance, followed by a brilliant innings by Abhishek Sharma, helped India beat South Africa by seven wickets in the third T20I in Dharamsala. Batting first, South Africa were bowled out for 117 in 20 overs. India chased down the target in 15.5 overs. With this victory, India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Arshdeep gave a shock

South Africa, who lost the toss and elected to bat first, had a disastrous start. Bowler Arshdeep Singh gave India the breakthrough in the very first over. He dismissed South Africa's Reeza Hendricks LBW on the fourth ball. However, the on-field umpire ignored the players' appeals. India subsequently took a review, and Reeza was dismissed without a run.

De Kock got out cheaply

India's second major breakthrough came in the form of Quinton de Kock, who was trapped LBW by Harshit Rana off the second ball of the second over. De Kock, who had scored an explosive 90 in the second match of the series, managed just one run in this match. South Africa's third wicket fell in the form of Brevis (2), who was bowled by Harshit Rana off the first ball of the fourth over.

Hardik completes 100 wickets

The Indian bowlers' aggression didn't stop there, and a short while later, Hardik Pandya gave India their fourth breakthrough by having Stubbs (9) caught by Jitesh. This marked Hardik's 100th T20I wicket. He became the first fast-bowling all-rounder to take 100 wickets and score more than 1,000 runs in T20Is.

Shivam Dube then came in and immediately dismissed Corbin Bosch. Bosch returned with 4 runs from 9 balls. Thus, with the score at 67, half the African team was back in the pavilion. Varun delivered the sixth blow to the African team, bowling out Donovan Ferreira. After this, the remaining batsmen couldn't stay on the pitch for long, and thus, the entire South African team managed only 117 runs.

The captain scored a half-century

Captain Aiden Markram top-scored with 61 runs. Marco Jansen scored 2, Anrich Nortje 12, and Ottenleit Bartman 1. For India, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav took 2 wickets each. Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube each took 1 wicket.

India's stormy start

Chasing 118 runs, the Indian team got off to a flying start with the opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. Both batsmen started hitting big shots as soon as they came on. They added 60 runs in 32 balls. India's first wicket fell in the last over of the powerplay. Abhishek Sharma, who was batting aggressively, was caught out. He played an innings of 35 runs in 18 balls. During this, the Indian opening batsman hit 3 fours and 3 sixes.

Gill played a slow innings

Tilak Verma, who came at number 3, along with Gill, handled the innings. Both added 32 runs in 38 balls for the second wicket. Gill was out in the 12th over while trying to steal a run. He played a slow inning of 28 runs in 28 balls. This wicket went to Marco Jansen. Captain Suryakumar Yadav also could not remain unbeaten till the end of the match. He faced 11 balls and scored 12 runs with the help of 2 fours. Tilak Verma remained unbeaten after scoring 25 runs in 34 balls and Shivam Dubey remained unbeaten after scoring 10 runs in 4 balls.

 PC:Jagran