Following India’s 61-run win over South Africa in the 1st T20I, former cricketer Mark Boucher reflected on Men in Blue spinner Varun Chakravarthy’s performance in the game and said that he bowled briskly. Varun Chakaravarthy picked up three wickets and gave 25 runs in his four-over and helped the Men in Blue to defend the given target. Speaking on Jio Cinema, Boucher said that both Varun and Ravi Bishnoi had a great bowling partnership in the second inning.
“Varun Chakravarthy has come on leaps and bounds. The way that he bowled tonight with Bishnoi, what a great partnership that the two of them had in the middle of there. Klaasen looked out of sync, to be honest, he didn’t look like he was in good form at all,” Boucher said.
The former Proteas cricketer added that the Indian bowling attack made it look like men against boys.
“They were never really in with a shout, always looked like something that gonna happen, something that was gonna give. I think they bowled nine balls for three runs at some stage to build up pressure. They really made it almost look like men against boys to be fair,” he added.
Recapping the match, Aiden Markram-led South Africa sent India to bat first after the toss.
Sanju Samson’s blitz helped India to a fiery start in the game. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (21 runs from 17 balls, 2 fours and 1 six) and batter Tilak Varma (33 runs from 18 balls, 3 fours and 2 balls) also played an average knock and propelled India to 202/8 in the first inning.
Gerald Coetzee led the South Africa bowling attack after he picked up three wickets for 37 runs in his four-over spell.
During the run chase, South Africa’s batters failed to put up a decent performance. No Proteas batters could cross the 30-run mark.
Heinrich Klaasen (25 runs from 22 balls, 2 fours and 1 six) and Gerald Coetzee (23 runs from 11 balls, 3 sixes) were the highest run scorers for the hosts.
The Indian bowling attack was led by Varun Chakaravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi who bundled out the hosts at 141 with two overs remaining. Both Varun and Bishnoi picked up three wickets in the game.
Samson was named the Player of the Match following his stellar show with the bat.
India will take on South Africa in the second T20I match of the series on Sunday in Gqeberha.
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