SA beat India by five wickets

Perth: What happened if India has lost, the road to the semi-finals is still open. India's biggest supporters are making such arguments.

However, they do not want to accept the batting disaster. However, when the ball moves on the wicket, the Indian camp collapses.

For now, if Bangladesh and Zimbabwe can be defeated in Adelaide and Melbourne respectively, the road to the semi-finals will open.

Defeat to South Africa is definitely a big blow.

Two days ago Anrich Nortje said, now the South Africans can no longer be called chokers. Six runs were needed in the last over. Miller got the winning run with two balls to spare.

His unbeaten innings of 59 off 46 balls included 4 fours and 3 sixes. And Lungi Ngidi as Man of the Match.

The whole world knows the discomfort the Indian batsmen have to go through if the ball moves, and they have to play on a fast wicket.

Rohit Sharma has to be uncomfortable playing in front of very good spinners.

Batting coach Vikram Rathour said that this could happen on the pacy Perth pitch a day ago, and no loopholes have been left in the preparations. But how can the team free itself from this long-standing disease so easily?

As a result, Indians had to stop at 133 runs for 9 wickets. India lost three wickets for 41 runs on the score board.

No runs were scored in the first 9 balls, so South Africa began with nine dot balls.

Criminal offense started from then.

Rohit hit Kagiso Rabada for six off the tenth ball. Fire for fire. That seemed the philosophy of the Indian batting then. KL Rahul (9) and Rohit Sharma (15) were victims of extra pace and bounce.

Virat Kohli was on the path of counter-attack. Virat's bat was in an aggressive mood. But while hooking Ngidi's bouncer, he was caught by Rabada. It was an awesome catch.

Deepak Hooda looked completely out of place playing in place of left-arm spinner Axer Patel. Nortje produced the extra bounce to dismiss Hooda.

Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik came to bat in the same mood.

No one tried to build an innings! Suryakumar Yadav, nicknamed 'Sky', took charge of the proceedings.

India reached 133 largely owing to Suryakumar's innings of 68 off 40 balls. It had six fours and three 6s. Dinesh Karthik, known as the finisher, could not bat in accordance with the reputation.

Sunday was a golden opportunity presented to him. At 49 for 5 with Suryakumar at the crease, he could have shown his mettle. The villain of Sunday's match is definitely Karthik. He should have taken the responsibility of keeping Suryakumar on strike with short runs.

There he was out for a six with Rishabh Pant knocking on the door.

When it came to bowling, India did not deviate from the known attack path. Rohit arranged the fielding by keeping two slips. He hoped that the strong bowlers would be able to push back the opposition.

Arshdeep and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, followed by Mohammed Sami, bowled brilliantly in their first spells.

The left-arm Arshdeep also sent back the dangerous Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw. India came back into the match as Temba Bavuma (10) returned to pavilion.

This is when Markram and David Miller took over the game. In 15.4 overs, South Africa recovered from the early disaster.

A difference in mentality of the South African ultimately robbed India of victory.

Markram scored 52 runs. He returned to the dressing room after being caught off Hardik's ball.

But before that, Virat dropped a catch at mid-wicket off Ravi Ashwin.

Then Markram's was on 35. Rohit wasted the chance of an easy run out too when the batsman was on 36 runs.

Mistakes like these loomed large in a close-fought match.

Meanwhile, South Africa defeated India by five wickets in their T20 World Cup match here on Sunday. Suryakumar Yadav lifted India to 133 for nine with a 40-ball 68 after a batting collapse.

In reply, South Africa completed the chase in 19.4 overs. Aiden Markram and David Miller made 52 and 59 runs respectively, the latter remaining not out.

Opting to bat, skipper Rohit Sharma was the first batter to get dismissed, following which India kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Returning to the team at the expense of Tabraiz Shamsi, pacer Lungi Ngidi was the wrecker-in-chief as he ran through the famed Indian top-order with four wickets during an incisive spell of fast bowling on a pacy track.