South Africa had the stats in their favor head to head against Sri Lanka. In the 25th match, we saw a last-over finish, a nail-biting match with a par score on the board. South Africa on the back of some good tight bowling and crucial finishing touches by David Miller, won by four wickets to register their second win of the tournament.
Lone Warrior for Srilanka
Batting first, Srilanka got bowled out for 142, it was a poor outing by the Sri Lankan batting unit as only 3 batters could score in the double digits. P Nissanka was the best batter for the Srilankan team as he scored more than 50 % of the team runs. The batter managed 72 runs in 58 balls. Apart from the magic of Shamsi, a few other South African bowlers chipped in with economical and wicket-taking spells. A Markram, A Nortje, and D Pretorius bowled nine overs in total and gave away only 52 runs picking five wickets.
Spinners Web
The conditions are favorable for the spin bowlers and you will expect a lot when the TOP 2 T20I bowlers fight it out in the same match. T.Shamsi (no.1 ranked) and W Hasaranga (no.2 ranked) both picked up three wickets each for their teams and controlled the game after the powerplay overs.
Shamsi managed to get hold of the Srilankan middle order and Hasaranga picked up a hattrick, across two overs to take the match to the end. A Sri Lankan picking up a hattrick against South Africa in a World Cup match and still ending up on the losing side is not happening for the first time. Apart from the Hasaranga hattrick, only D Chameera was able to create some pressure on the batters and at one time had bowling stats of 3-0-17-2
Sensible innings from the captain
There are very few days when you will call an innings of 46 from 46 balls an impactful one. The match situation demanded a batter to control the flow of the innings. Coming in at 26-2, T Bavuma kept the scoreboard ticking. He was dismissed at 17.1 overs. He was in for 81 balls, faced 46 (56 % of the balls), and scored 54% of the runs. His innings dint let the run rate go over 11 or 12 which would have been a tough task on this pitch.
Killer Miller
David Miller has always had the potential and got this name ‘Killer Miller” way back around 2013-2014 in IPL after his explosive batting. Though Miller has not been able to have that great an impact on the international stage he played the perfect finisher’s role. He has been great in the depth overs in 2021. He strikes at 192.4 after the 15th over and has an average of 57.2 in doing so which suggests the control and effectiveness of his attacking shots. His career average in that zone is 34 striking at 171.2. Definitely, Miller has been in some good form in 2021 and that is working well for South Africa. Rabada’s cameo of 13 from 7 balls worked like a cherry on the cake for South Africa.
Game-changing Overs
In a low-scoring match, an over which goes in the double digits has a very huge impact on the momentum of the game. The 19th and the 20th over of both the innings were complete poles apart. South Africa managed to win those overs in both innings. Sri Lanka could score only 13 runs in the last two overs. Pretorius and Nortje only conceded a single boundary in that phase. Whereas Sri Lanka leaked 28 runs in only 11 balls in that phase, and the South African batters were able to score four boundaries, three of which were maximum.
With all the different things going outside the cricketing aspect for South Africa, they are well placed in Group A at no.2 in the table. They have a far better run rate than Australia who lost by a big margin to England in the following game. Sri Lanka would have hoped to make a match out of 140 total and especially after having 25 to defend in the last two overs. Sri Lanka plays England which will be their toughest challenge and South Africa will like to continue the momentum against Bangladesh on 2nd November.