India vs South Africa: Suryakumar Yadav leads from the front as Men in Blue level T20I series 1-1 with 106-run win

Captain Suryakumar Yadav led from the front as India defeated South Africa by 106 runs in the third and final T20I in Johannesburg on Thursday to level the series 1-1 and finish with the spoils shared. Suryakumar Yadav led with a 55-ball century to guide India to 201/7 after the Men in Blue were invited to bat first. SKY forged a 112-run stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal for the fourth wicket to set the platform for a huge Indian total. In reply, birthday boy Kuldeep Yadav collected a five-fer as South Africa were bundled out for 95 in 13.5 overs. Kuldeep finished with figures of 5/17 in 2.5 overs. IND vs SA 3rd T20I: As it happened   But for that India need to profusely thank Suryakumar. The 33-year-old exploited the opportunity to bat on a bone-dry surface making his fourth T20I century, joining team-mate Rohit Sharma and Australian Glenn Maxwell as batters with that many three-figure scores in the shortest format. The partnership between SKY and Jaiswal also allowed India to wriggle out of a bit of a tight space after losing Shubman Gill (8) and Tilak Varma (0) off successive balls in the third over to left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. India were 29 for 2 at that point. But the Suryakumar-Jaiswal stand was not all about flaunting a gun. They made a rather sturdy beginning, adding 33 runs in the final four overs of the Power Play and then another 25 runs in the overs between seven and 10. But once the 10th over mark passed, the pair, especially Suryakumar, shifted into overdrive as 114 runs came cascading in the back-10. Suryakumar, who gave all the space to his junior partner in the early part of the partnership, soon took over the role of chief aggressor. He took those 360’ shots out of the shelf to punish the SA bowlers who did not have much variety to tame Suryakumar on a benign pitch. Pacer Andile Phehlukwayo bore the brunt of Suryakumar’s awesome skill sets in this format. The Indian skipper hammered Phehlukwayo for 22 runs in the 13th over through a sequence of 6, 4, 6, 6, an over in which he also brought up his fifty along with that last maximum. Jaiswal too had his own little moments like a magical pull off pacer Lizaad Williams that gave him six runs over mid-wicket. But the left-hander’s effort to clear long-off off left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi ended in the hands of Reeza Hendricks. However, there was no stopping Suryakumar, who continued to cart the Proteas bowlers around using nimble feet and those highly-manipulative wrists. The 33-year-old soon fetched a well-deserved hundred in a surprisingly sedate manner – with a two off Williams – off 55 balls. He could not last till the end giving a catch to Matthew Breetzke at the edge of the ropes off Williams. But by then, he had done enough to take India to a competitive total. The Indians needed to come up with a better effort with the ball than they did in the second match, and they did precisely that. The Johannesburg deck that changed the character drastically under the light too helped their cause. In the second half, the pitch offered some assistance to spinners in the form of turn, which Jadeja and Kuldeep used gleefully. Birthday boy Kuldeep’s delivery that came from outside of the off-stump to rattle the stumps of Dononvan Ferreira was quite exceptional, and also exposed SA batters’ weakness against high-quality spin. But in reality, South Africa’s chase never really took off. Pacer Mohammed Siraj set the perfect platform for India’s defence, bowling a maiden in the first over, and they never let the Proteas off the hook from that point. Once captain Aiden Markram and big-hitting Heinrich Klaasen were dismissed inside the first seven overs to reduce SA to 42 for four, their fate was sealed. The rest of the line-up did not have the ability to read Kuldeep either off the hand or off the pitch as they crumbled like a whole-meal cookie. The only jarring point for India was the absence of Suryakumar who had to walk out of the field in the third over of SA innings with a hurt ankle while trying to stop a shot from Reeza Hendricks. Jadeja stood in for Suryakumar for the rest of the SA innings. With inputs from PTI