India Crushes South Africa by 7 Wickets in 3rd T20I, Take 2-1 Series Lead

India recovered after a tough game in Mullanpur and easily beat South Africa in the third T20I. They won by 7 wickets with 25 balls left, taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Earlier in the evening, India won the toss and opted to bowl first. Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana breathed fire with the new ball and decimated South Africa's top order. Reeza Hendricks was out in the first over for a bronze duck, and the visitors never recovered from that setback.

Wickets fell like ninepins and eventually, the Proteas were bundled out for just 117 in exactly 20 overs. Aiden Markram was the lone warrior for the tourists as the skipper hit a fighting 61 off 46 balls and saved the team from a bigger embarrassment. Donovan Ferreira scored 20 off 15, while Anrich Nortje hit 12 off 12 balls. None of the other batters got into the double figures.

Arshdeep Singh finished with 2/13; Harshit Rana picked up 2/34; Varun Chakaravarthy was fantastic and ended with a magical 2/11, while Kuldeep Yadav picked up the last two wickets in the last over. Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube took a wicket each, with the former joining the 100 wickets club in the T20Is and the latter knocking over Corbin Bosch in his very first ball with a solid nip-backer.

Abhishek Sharma set the tone for an easy run chase. He teed off with a maximum on the first ball of the run chase and never looked back. He slammed 35 off 18 balls, smacking 3 fours and as many sixes and giving India a flying start, adding 60 for the first wicket in just 5.2 overs before Markram took a stunner in the outfield to end Abhishek's fun in the middle. 

Shubman Gill anchored and got back into some rhythm, scoring run-a-ball 28. He started well, but slowed down post Abhishek's dismissal. Marco Jansen removed the Indian vice-captain before Suryakumar Yadav became a victim of Lungi Ngidi as the Indian captain failed yet again. Tilak Varma held an end up and scored an unbeaten 26 off 34 balls, anchoring the run chase while Shivam Dube hit a six and a boundary to seal the game in the 16th over.

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