Skipper Rishabh Pant hails spinners after 48-run win over South Africa in 3rd T20I

After underwhelming performances in the first matches, Indian spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel rose to the occasion and bowled beautifully to guide the team to a 48-run win over South Africa in the third T20I and stay alive in the five-match series. Delighted skipper Rishabh Pant hailed the duo and emphasised the importance of spinners performing well in the middle overs.

“The execution was spot-on from the bowlers and the batters. We were 15 runs short, but we weren’t thinking about that. Bowlers did a fantastic job for us,” Pant said at the post-match presentation in Vishakapatnam on Tuesday.

 Also read: Finishing woes haunt India with series on line vs SA: What went wrong?

It was a much-improved performance from Chahal (3/20) and Patel (1/28), who were smashed for 75 and 59 in six and five overs respectively in the previous two games.

“In India, spinners play a big role. They contain the batsmen in the middle overs. So there is pressure on them to perform, but in such matches when it comes off, this is what happens,” Pant said. 

He, however, expressed his unhappiness with the middle order batting collapse that saw the team fall a couple of runs short of the expected total.

“I don’t think it’s a good thing for us (middle order not performing), but after a good start it’s difficult for new batsmen to go straight away. We will try to improve in the next match,” Pant said.

Also read: DRS down at Visakhapatnam briefly: India dominate play vs SA in 3rd T20I

Chahal, who was awarded the Player of the Match, said he bowled to “his strengths.”

“I was bowling too many and quick sliders in the last game. I spoke to Paras (Mhambrey) sir and coaches about it. So I tried to bowl quick leg-breaks, but with a different seam position today,” he said. 

“I want to turn and dip the ball, I couldn’t do it the last time so they were able to hit through the line. I tried to get some turn and change the line of the ball. When you get middle-order batsmen out in the middle overs, the pressure is on them. Batsmen try a lot of sweeps and reverse sweeps these days so we have to be prepared for that too, as bowlers.”