India win T20 series despite South Africa's late onslaught
The visitors survived a late attack from debutant Christiaan Jonker to ensure they went home with both limited-overs trophies
The visitors survived a late attack from debutant Christiaan Jonker to ensure they went home with both limited-overs trophies
Commentator: Deivarayan Muthu
9.42pm Rohit collects the T20I series trophy and his team-mates join him. That's all she wrote for this tour. Many thanks for your company and comments. This is Deivarayan Muthu signing off. Goodbye and good night for now.
9.35pm Duminy, SA stand-in captain: They bowled pretty well in the Powerplay, and we just couldn't get the boundaries. The difference from their batting Powerplay and ours was 30 runs. I definitely thought 170 was chaseable. The slower balls and the knuckle balls from them worked. I am proud of the way the guys fought, especially Jonker. It is amazing to see a lot of talent coming through. All credit to India, outstanding white-ball tour for them.
Raina, Man of the Match: Especially in the first overs, you need to show intent. Thanks to Virat and Ravi bhai, they gave me the licence. They way we played, the dressing room atmosphere is so calm. The last we have done in two-and-a-half months, no team has done it in a long time. Two lefties at the crease, I got a ball, and working on it.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Man of the Series: Yes, I really enjoyed this tour. I was very happy with my preparation. First of all thanks to IPL, it has made an Indian bowler a thinking bowler. It is important not to give too many runs in the first six overs. I always try to keep it simple. I hardly get these kind of wickets in India and I enjoyed this.
Rohit, India stand-in captain: To be honest, we were 15 runs short. Because the way the first half went, I thought we lost our way in the end. These things happen and we learn from it. I thought it was a decent score and the bowlers did the job for us. I hope games like these teach us a lot of things. We discussed certain plans and it worked today. The idea was to keep the ball on the stumps and we kept it tight in the first six overs. Credit to the new-ball bowlers. It was a complete bowling performance. We will take these limited-overs trophies, throughout the series we played with a lot of aggression. As a group, we never back down from any situation. That is the reason we are standing here as winners.
9.21pm India were missing their captain Kohli and the wristspinners, but their seamers exploited the dry Cape Town pitch with an assortment of slower balls. Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, and Thakur limited South Africa to 25 for 1 in the Powerplay. Duminy then teed off in the middle overs and debutant Jonker in the death, but Bhuvneshwar held his nerve and wrapped up the series win. The fun began seven weeks ago with South Africa winning the New Year's Test in Cape Town. It ends with India winning the series-deciding T20 at the same venue. India celebrate their win under fire-work filled skies. Do stick around for the presentation.
Rivlud: "India could of gone home with all the trophies if the batting functioned to it's abilities, that was a chance to beat a stong SA team, the rest is history. I do expect India to travel much better in the future!"
Jigar: "SA won all 3tosses and still India manages to win series tells a lot about team which has traditionally struggled in SA. I guess in addition to batting might, indian bowlers and fielding has outplayed SA. The way wristies, Bhuvi and Bumrah bowled and pandya chipped in was the difference between two teams and of course, King Kohli with that unbelievable form"
Chandan: "Great to see Dhoni marshaling the troops in the last 2-3 overs. Captain cool still helping the Indian team keep calm and get over the line. Respect!"
Ankit: "SA have found some really really exciting new players. Their middle order of Jonker, Klasen, Duminy, Morris, Phel is starting to look really scary and just need to be backed now."
C Jonker c Sharma b Kumar 49 (39m 24b 5x4 2x6) SR: 204.16
Rohit walks up to Bhuvneshwar and has a word with the bowler. 12 needed off 3
The South Africa coach rued his side's clumsy errors, which ultimately cost them a series
The allrounder believes South Africa have overcome the problems against wristspin that haunted them through the ODI series
Seven weeks ago, India began their tour of South Africa at Newlands. They return there with all to play for in the T20I series decider
The visitors survived a late attack from debutant Christiaan Jonker to ensure they went home with both limited-overs trophies