The Super 12 clash between two cricketing giants, India and South Africa, in Perth, ended with the Proteas winning by five wickets. It was India’s first loss in the tournament, coming off two back-to-back wins against Pakistan and the Netherlands. 

Although the loss was not entirely unexpected, India did have the chance to steal the contest from the Proteas. The failure to act in the right way in some key moments of the match allowed it to slip away from their hands.

Also read: South Africa beat India by 5 wickets, Pakistan on the verge of knockout from T20 World Cup

Let’s take a quick look at them. 

Team selection

Speculations were rife before the match that Indian all-rounder Axar Patel, who is filling in for the injured Ravindra Jadeja, to move up the batting order so that the left-handed void in the Indian batting order can be filled. All of India’s top-order batters are right-handed and it is natural that they will have trouble facing left-arm pacer Lungi Ngidi. There were also talks of left-handed Rishab Pant coming in for Dinesh Karthik. 

The final team selection surprised everyone after Axar Patel was dropped and right-handed Deepak Hooda was brought in his place. Rishabh Pant also did not feature and Dinesh Karthik retained his place as the wicketkeeper batter.

As it turned out, Ngidi took four wickets – all right-handed batters, and none but Suryakumar Yadav managed to cross 15 runs in the Indian innings.

Also read: T20 World Cup 2022: Pakistan fans disappointed after India’s loss vs South Africa

Fielding Errors

In spite of a poor total on the board, the Indian bowlers gave the Men in Blue a good start. At one point, the Proteas were down by two wickets for only three runs. Things turned worse for the Proteas after Rilee Rossouw was also dismissed by Arshdeep Singh for a duck. The match could have turned in favour of India here, but several fielding lapses at key moments allowed the chance to slip. 

First was Virat Kohli dropping Aiden Makaram, who went on to score a brilliant 46-ball 59. Then came Rohit Shamra’s missed chance of running out David Miller who also scored a stunning 52 from 41 balls before being dismissed by Hardik Pandya. Wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also failed to collect several bouncers that made their way to the boundary, making the Proteas chase easier.