Seamer Arshdeep Singh became India’s second-highest wicket-taker in men’s T20Is as the Men in Blue defeated South Africa by 11 runs in the third 20-over match of the series in Centurion. In T20Is, Arshdeep has picked up 92 wickets from 59 innings at an economy rate of 8.34 and an average of 18.47. The India pacer is now four wickets short of leapfrogging Yuzvendra Chahal and becoming India’s top wicketer in the shortest format. In the third T20I match of the series, Arshdeep Singh surpassed Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to achieve the milestone.

Bumrah has 89 wickets in T20Is from 69 innings at an economy rate of 6.27. While Bhuvneshwar has 90 wickets from 86 innings at an economy rate of 6.96.

Recapping the match, South Africa won the toss and decided to field.

Abhishek Sharma (50 runs from 25 balls, 3 fours and 5 sixes) and Tilak Varma (107* runs from 56 balls, 8 fours and 7 sixes) displayed a stupendous knock and powered India to 219/6 in the first inning. Other Men in Blue batters failed to shine with the bat.

Andile Simelane and Keshav Maharaj led the Proteas bowling attack as they bagged two wickets each in their respective spell.

During the run chase, Heinrich Klaasen (41 runs from 22 balls, 1 four and 4 sixes) and Marco Jansen (54 runs from 17 balls, 4 fours and 5 sixes) played a blitzkrieg knock and kept the Proteas in the game. But with the help of Arshdeep, it was India who smiled in the end.

Arshdeep did the job both with the new ball and in the death overs as he picked up three crucial wickets and gave 37 runs in his four-over spell. Varun Chakaravarthy bagged two wickets in his four-over spell.

Tilak Varma was named the ‘Player of the Match’ following his staggering performance with the bat.

Out-of-favour India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has proved his mettle in the longest format of the game with a successful County stint. Playing for Northamptonshire, Chahal picked only one wicket in the first two games before making a remarkable comeback. The leg-spinner dismissed 18 batters in the next two matches, with his best figures in an innings being 5/45. Chahal, a proven match-winner for India in white-ball cricket, is yet to make his Test debut. After his terrific performance in England, he said that he wanted to present his case for India’s upcoming Test series in England next year.

India are set to play a five-match Test series in England in June-July next year.

“County cricket is tough cricket. It gave me an opportunity to showcase my skills against a very good standard of cricket. With India touring England next year, I wanted to show how good I am,” Chahal told Times of India.

Notably, Chahal was the part of the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning Indian team, and he was also invovled in captain Rohit Sharma’s famous distinctive walk to the podium to receive the trohpy that went viral on social media.

During an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rohit revealed that spin duo Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav suggested the distinctive walk to make the moment memorable.

When PM Modi mentioned Rohit’s distinctive walk saying, “I noticed two extreme things in which I could see emotion. When you are going to collect the trophy…”

To this, Rohit added, “It was such a huge moment for all of us. We all have been waiting for this for years. So, the boys told me ‘Don’t go just like that, do something different’.”

The Prime Minister jokingly asked, “Was it Chahal’s idea?”. Rohit replied “Chahal and Kuldeep” with a laugh around the room.

Interestingly, Rohit Sharma’s unique walk up to the podium is similar to the way Argentina legend Lionel Messi received the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

(With IANS Inputs)

India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal shared a heartfelt post for his wife Dhanashree Verma on her birthday on Friday. Dhanashree, who works as a dancer and a photographer on the professional front, turned 28. Chahal posted a series of their pictures on Instagram with the caption: “Another year older, another year more fabulous! Happy Birthday, love.” Notably, Chahal had married Dhanashree in an intimate ceremony in Gurugram in December 2022. Besides their own professions, the couple is loved by fans on Instagram for their reels.

Far from the focus on the cricket field, the personal lives of Indian cricketers also get equal following. Wherever they go the spotlight follows. Same is the case with star India leg-spinner Chahal and his wife Dhanashree Verma.

The duo first met virtually during COVID lockdown as Chahal was taking dance lessons from Dhanashree, who is a very popular dancer and has a very big following on social media.

As interaction between the two increased, it finally resulted in the duo getting married in December 2020. A year ago, Chahal had recounted a funny incident about his wedding proposal to Dhanashree.

“When the lockdown happened. I stayed with my family. It was for the first time that I stayed at my Gurugram home for so long. Almost three-four months. I enjoyed the time with my family and my pets. Then, it occurred to me that I always had this despite to learn dancing. Then I got suggestion that Dhanashree gave online classes. So I took online classes for two months,” Chahal said in an interview on ‘Humans of Bombay’ YouTube channel.

“Then one day I Asked her ‘Why are you so happy in life?’ She replied, ‘I am like that only. I seek happiness in small things in life.’ I got the right vibes and I told my family. I told her ‘I want to marry you, don’t want to date you. I don’t want to waste time in dating. I was 30 then. She said, ‘No, I want to meet you first.’ We never met before that. We met in Mumbai and then she said, ‘Ok, now, yes, fine.'”