The third T20I against South Africa in Indore turned out to be a nightmare for Team India bowlers. The likes of Deepak Chahar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj all proved to be expensive as South Africa piled on a massive 227/3. India, who had already clinched the T20I series, lost the third and final game by 49 runs as they were bowled out for 178.


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Tempers were high in the Indian bowling innings as the Rilee Rossouw, Quinton de Kock and David Miller pulverised Rohit Sharma’s side. Chahar, who bowled economically in the first couple of overs, was clobbered for 24 runs in final over – including three successive sixes by Miller. The Chennai Super Kings pacer lost his cool at Siraj and was seen abusing him when the latter caught Miller on the boundary but stepped on to the rope.


The incident occurred when Siraj was fielding at the long off position on the boundary line in the 20th over of the South African innings. It looked like Chahar had limited Miller’s destructive ability in the final over as Siraj was set to take an easy catch. However, the Indian bowler was not aware of the boundary rope behind him and stepped onto it by mistake.


Both the bowler Chahar and skipper Rohit Sharma were visibly annoyed at Siraj for the mistake as it cost India not only six runs but the big wicket of Miller.


Watch Deepak Chahar and Rohit Sharma reaction at Mohammed Siraj…



India played their last T20I match before the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. India’s captain Rohit Sharma is leaving no stone unturned to win the showpiece event and also realizes that the absence of pacer Jasprit Bumrah is a big blow to the team.


“Lot of the guys haven’t been to Australia, which is why we wanted to go early. Play on some bouncy pitches in Perth and see what we can do there. Out of the 15, only 7-8 have been there before, so wanted to make an effort to go there early. We’ve organised a couple of practice games. Bumrah is a big miss, but there are a few guys in the reckoning. We’ll make the call once we reach Australia,” said skipper Rohit Sharma in the post-match presentation ceremony.


The Indian bowlers conceded over 200 runs in both the second and third T20I against South Africa raising concerns over India’s bowling. ‘As a team, we said it at the beginning no matter what happens about the result, there’s always room for improvement. Even if we do well in all three departments, want to keep getting better. Areas of concerns, we have to look at our bowling, what more options we can find in the powerplay, middle and death,” said Rohit Sharma.


(with ANI inputs)