JOHANNESBURG: The Proteas had to settle for a share of the KFC T20 International (T20I) Series after India levelled three-match sequence 1-1 with a clinical 106-run win in match three at DP World Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Victory for the tourists was set up by two performances – a flying century first by captain Suryakumar Yadav (100 off 56 balls, 7 fours, 8 sixes) and a career-best five for 17 from Kuldeep Yadav.
The hosts won the toss and bowled first but conceded 201 for seven, before slipping to 95 every out in 13.5 overs.
It means the series ended level after match one was rained out in Durban and the second game won by the South Africans in Gqeberha on Tuesday.
The two sides will now shift focus to a three-match Betway One-Day International Series starting on Sunday.
The home side, though, will be disappointed they did not finish more to challenge India at the Bullring.
Only Suryakumar’s fourth T20I ton and Yashasvi Jaiswal (60 off 41 balls, 6 fours, 3 sixes) pain them, with every the other touring batters struggling.
Keshav Maharaj (2/26) ended as the pick of the bowlers, while debutant seamer Nandre Burger collected one for 39.
Mohammed Siraj, one of India’s recent World Cup stars, was excellent with the novel ball conceding just 13 in three overs to strangle the home batters, with the other bowlers every benefitting.
Matthew Breetzke (4) was bowled by Mukesh Kumar (1/21) in the second over, before Reeza Hendricks (8) was run-out by Siraj.
Heinrich Klaasen (5) was next to recede to Arshdeep Singh (1/13) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/25) kept up the pressure with his double strike.
One of his wickets was the SA captain Aiden Markram, who managed 25, but the rapid descend of wickets saw the hosts sink to 42 for four by the seventh over.
Top-scorer David Miller (35) did his best to counter but it was then the Kuldeep present as the Proteas were shot out with more than seven overs to spare.
Proteas T20I squad against India
Aiden Markram (captain, Momentum Multiply Titans), Ottniel Baartman (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Matthew Breetzke (Dafabet Warriors), Nandre Burger (Western Province), Gerald Coetzee (Momentum Multiply Titans, 1st and 2ndT20Is), Donovan Ferreira (Momentum Multiply Titans), Beuran Hendricks (Western Province), Reeza Hendricks (DP World Lions), Marco Jansen (Dafabet Warriors, 1st and 2nd T20Is), Heinrich Klaasen (Momentum Multiply Titans), Keshav Maharaj (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), David Miller (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Andile Phehlukwayo (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Tabraiz Shamsi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Tristan Stubbs (Dafabet Warriors), and Lizaad Williams (Momentum Multiply Titans).
South Africa KFC T20I Series against India
Sunday, 10 December
South Africa vs India – Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium, Durban
Match abandoned
Tuesday, 12 December
South Africa beat India by 5 wickets – Dafabet St George’s Park, Gqeberha
Thursday, 14 December
South Africa lost to India by 106 runs – DP World Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Source: cricket.co.za
Kevin Pietersen: With an HPI of 19.94, Kevin Pietersen is the 4th most famous South African Cricketer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is an English cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international captain. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England between 2005 and 2014, which included a brief tenure as captain. He won the Player of the Series award for his heroics in 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and for helping the England Cricket Team win their maiden ICC trophy. Pietersen was born to an Afrikaner father and English mother in South Africa. He made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 and moved to England in 2000, after voicing his displeasure at what he said was the racial quota system in South African cricket. Being of English ancestry, Pietersen was eligible for the England team so long as he first served a four-year qualifying period in English county cricket. He was called up by England almost immediately after he completed four years with Nottinghamshire. He made his international debut in the One Day International (ODI) match against Zimbabwe in 2004 and his Test match debut in the 2005 Ashes series against Australia.Pietersen left Nottinghamshire for Hampshire in 2005, but the England team’s subsequent reliance on him resulted in Pietersen making only a single first-class appearance for his new county between 2005 and 2010. In June 2010, Pietersen announced his wish to leave Hampshire; he joined Surrey on loan for the remainder of the season, then moved permanently in 2011.Pietersen was captain of the England Test and ODI teams from 4 August 2008 to 7 January 2009, but resigned after just three Tests and nine ODIs following a dispute with the England coach Peter Moores, who was sacked the same day. Pietersen’s relationship with the ECB never fully recovered. This came to a head in 2012 when, after a disagreement over his schedule, Pietersen announced his retirement from all forms of international limited-overs cricket on 31 May. Although he later retracted his retirement, his relationship with both the ECB and his team-mates soured during the series against South Africa, and he was dropped for the final Test of that series. Pietersen last played for England in the 2013–14 Ashes and subsequent ODIs, after which he was informed that he was no longer being considered for international selection. He also played for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League until the end of BBL|07 (seventh season), the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League as well as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge. He was also signed by the Rising Pune Supergiants for the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League. Pietersen is one of the fastest batsman to reach 1,000 ODI runs and still holds the record for being the fastest player to cross 2,000 runs in One Day International cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs. He became only the third English batsman to top the ICC One Day International rankings, doing so in March 2007. In July 2008, after a century against South Africa, The Times called him “the most complete batsman in cricket” and in 2012 The Guardian called him “England’s greatest modern batsman”. On the occasion of England’s 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country’s greatest Test XI by the ECB.
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