The fourth T20I of the five-match series between India and South Africa was played in Rajkot on June 17, 2022. India trails the series 2-1 and this is a must-win game for them.
Temba Bavuma won his 4th toss in a row and chose to bowl first. They made some changes as Quinton de Kock returned for South Africa, who also included Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen in the playing XI. India was unchanged.
India started off poorly with Ruturaj Gaikwad getting out for 5 and Shreyas Iyer’s struggles continued as he was dismissed for 4 runs. Ishan Kishan was looking good for his 27 runs but was out trying to play a cute shot off Anrich Nortje.
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Rishabh Pant took his time, but made only 17 runs in 23 balls, further raising questions about his batting form in the T20 format. At 81/4 in 13 overs, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya came together and slammed 65 runs for the 5th wicket in 5 overs.
Hardik Pandya scored 46 in 31 balls with 3 sixes and 3 fours, but the hero of the Indian innings was Dinesh Karthik, who hit his maiden T20I fifty, 16 years after his debut in the format when India played their debut T20I match in 2006.
He made 55 in 27 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes to his name, helping India finish on 169/6 in 20 overs.
The cricket fraternity was all praises for the veteran keeper-batter and took to Twitter to laud his knock.
Here are the tweets:
