Saw the worst performance by South African batters in yesterday's match against India. The pitch was indeed favouring the bowlers but if the top order of the SA batting would have been more careful then they wouldn't had got out so fast. At one point SA had a score of just 9 for 5. Yesterday's match was totally in control of the Indian side and such T20 matches do not generate much entertainment.
South African bowlers also had a great start and at one point, India was reeling at 17/2, before Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul rescued them. The pitch was very supportive of pace bowling (irrespective of what the curator claimed before the start of the match). Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell started exeptionally well and they gave away just 30 runs from their 8 overs. But the other bowlers (especially Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi couldn't keep up the pressure and leaked runs). BTW, does anyone know why Marco Jansen is not playing? If the pitch is bowling friendly then no player is able to score runs? I don't see where your logic is. I watched the match. KL Rahul has batted with enough responsibility. His strike rate was less than 100. Batsmen like KL Rahul always bat at a strike rate of over 140 if the pitch is batting-friendly. Surya Kumar Yadav batted well. With KL Rahul batting responsibly, Yadav grew more confident and played some aggressive shots. I would say the pitch was not batting-friendly, but the Indian experienced batsmen played brilliantly. This is why India won.
