Watch: Harshal Patel bamboozles David Miller with a slower delivery

It was a do-or-die match for India – they had lost their first couple of matches and had to win the third T20I against South Africa in Visakhapatnam to stay afloat in the series. Rishabh Pant lost the toss once again and as has been the norm all series, Temba Bavuma elected to bowl first.

India persisted with the same playing XI and Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan flew off the marks. Gaikwad got to his half-century as did Ishan Kishan and India were on course to post a score well beyond 200. However, wickets in the middle order derailed the innings and it took a late burst from Hardik Pandya to take India to 179.

The surface was slightly on the slower side and Rishabh Pant used his spinners very well. He introduced Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal early in the piece and the spinners spun a web around the South African batting.

On a sluggish pitch, Harshal Patel came into his own with his own plethora of variations. It had not been a good series for him, but he found his mojo in Vizag. He picked as many as 4 wickets in the match and was superb in the middle and death overs. His delivery to David Miller was the standout.

Watch the video here:

Miller has been the man in form for South Africa and Harshal landed a slower ball on a length and Miller was far too early into his stroke. He wanted to push the ball through covers, but the ball never arrived and it flummoxed him as he just popped it to Gaikwad at short cover.

With this wicket, India effectively sealed the match and they are still in contention to seal the series. “We wanted to execute certain plans which didn’t work out in the last few games for us. We want to continue to achieve our bowling goals. It was slower than Kotla, and easier to bowl hard lengths,” Harshal Patel said after the match.