Sensational Rossouw ton steers SA to victory in third T20 against India

A sensational 48-ball ton by Rilee Rossouw was the catalyst for a resounding Proteas win to overcome India by 49 runs in the final T20 at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, on Tuesday.

In pursuit of 228, India, who rested some of their key players, fell to 178 all out as they were outclassed by an efficient SA team performance. The series, wrapped up in the first two games by India, ended 2-1.

A trailblazing 100 from Rossouw and gutsy 68 from Quinton de Kock saw the visitors to 227 for three in their 20 overs.

In India’s reply, captain Rohit Sharma (0) fell after just two Kagiso Rabada deliveries before Shreyas Iyer (1) was trapped leg before wicket by Wayne Parnell with just four runs on the board.

Rishabh Pant raced to 27 off just 14 balls before being sharply caught by Tristan Stubbs with India on 45 for 3 to end the eighth over.

Dinesh Karthik hit four boundaries and four sixes as he took India past 50, bludgeoning 46 off 21 before he was bowled by Keshav Maharaj.

In-form batter Suryakumar Yadav (8) was dismissed by all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, excellently caught by Stubbs coming in off the boundary, with the score on 86 for 5.

When Harshal Patel (17) was caught at long off by David Miller off Ngidi and Axar Patel (9) caught by De Kock off Parnell the writing looked on the wall for India.

They lost their last three wickets for 64 runs as the dismissals of Ravichandran Ashwin (2), Deepak Chahar (31), and Mohammed Siraj (5) saw the hosts’ innings end with nine balls to spare, with Umesh Yadav on 20 not out.

Earlier, the Proteas raced to 30 without loss, thanks largely to aggressive batting from left-handed opener De Kock.

At the other end, captain Temba Bavuma opened his account in the series scoring 3, but was dismissed having faced just eight deliveries, caught by Indian captain Rohit Sharma off Umesh Yadav, which meant the 32-year-old spent just 19 deliveries at the crease in the three matches.

That dismissal brought Rossouw to the crease and having faced three dots to start his innings, he scored nine off the next three deliveries to signal his intent.

De Kock hit six boundaries and four maximums on his way to 68 off 43, sharing 89 runs for the second wicket with Rossouw to take SA to 120 before Iyer swiftly ran out the opener.

Burly left-hander Rossouw, who was dropped on 24 by Mohammed Siraj on the boundary, went past 50 with a huge six over deep midwicket in the 14th over before going on to reach a maiden T20I century, hitting seven fours and eight sixes.

His partnership with Stubbs of 87 looked like it would grow, however the right-hander was caught by Ravichandran Ashwin off Deepak Chahar for 23 in the final over. Miller struck three maximums, one off a no-ball, to score 19 and take SA to 227.