Suryakumar Yadav’s 100 helps India to split T20 series

JOHANNESBURG (AP):

Suryakumar Yadav scored a record-equalling fourth T20 hundred as India beat South Africa by 106 runs to split the series 1-1 yesterday.

Yadav scored 100 runs off 56 balls as India finished with 201-7 in 20 overs. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 60 off 41 balls. The duo put on 112 runs off 70 balls for the third wicket.

Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav then picked 5-17 in four overs as South Africa were shot out for 95 runs (13.5 overs).

India’s win meant that the three-match series finished 1-1. South Africa had won the second T20 in Gqerberha by five wickets (DLS), while the first game in Durban was washed out.

Put into bat, India lost Shubman Gill for eight runs, while Tilak Varma was out for a golden duck. Spinner Keshav Maharaj picked both wickets in the third over and finished his spell with 2-26.

Jaiswal then reconstructed the innings with Yadav and put India on course for a big total. The opener hit six fours and three sixes before his partner took over.

Yadav, the world’s top-ranked T20 batter, didn’t disappoint the crowd at the Wanderers. He hit five sixes to reach 50 off 32 balls and then accelerated further.

His next 50 came off 23 balls, including another five fours and three sixes. In doing so, he joined compatriot Rohit Sharma and Australia’s Glenn Maxwell as the only three batters with four T20 international hundreds.

Remarkably, Yadav’s four hundreds have come in 57 international T20 innings, as compared withSharma’s 140 and Maxwell’s 92.

Debutant pacer Nandre Burger finished with 1-39 in four overs.

In reply, South Africa faltered from the very start. In-form Reeza Hendricks was run out for eight, while his opening partner Matthew Breetzke was bowled for four.

Yadav later limped off with a suspected ankle injury after twisting his foot while fielding. Vice-captain Ravindra Jadeja assumed charge.

He had Aiden Markram caught for 25 before birthday boy Kuldeep Yadav ran through the batting.

The South Africa batsmen struggled to read the unorthodox wrist spinner’s deliveries, especially the googly. Donovan Ferreira (12) and Maharaj were bowled, while he trapped Burger and Lizaad Williams leg before wicket. The latter three fell for two runs between them.

Only three batters reached double figures, while David Miller top scored with 35 runs. He was lucky to face 25 deliveries after edging behind off Jadeja when the Decision Review System was not available because of a technical issue.

Miller was last man out, bowled off the wrist spinner, as South Africa lost their last six wickets for 53 runs in 46 deliveries. It was Kuldeep Yadav’s best figures in T20 internationals.

South Africa had earlier won the toss and made three changes with pacers Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen rested. India had fielded an unchanged side.

The teams next meet in a three-match ODI series beginning in Johannesburg on Sunday.