India vs South Africa: Dwaine Pretorius smashes three sixes in Hardik Pandya’s only over in 1st T20I – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

What was expected to be a tough chase for South Africa in the first T20I against India instead turned into a cakewalk, thanks to some explosive hitting from the middle-order duo of David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen.

Miller (64 not out) and van der Dussen (75 not out) shared an unbroken 131-run stand for the fourth wicket to help the Proteas chase the steep 212-run target down with seven wickets and five deliveries to spare at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday. The Proteas went 1-0 up in the five-match series with the victory.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for the visitors throughout the chase though; they lost skipper Temba Bavuma in the third over of the innings. Another wicket or two at that stage could have seriously jeopardised their chances.

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Opener Quinton de Kock though forged a vital second-wicket partnership with all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, who came in at one-down, the pair adding 39 runs in just three overs to bring the South Africans back on their feet.

While the Miller-van der Dussen partnership would later seal the deal for Bavuma’s men and undoubtedly deserves the lion’s share of the credit for the victory, Pretorius’ assault in the powerplay too deserves a mention. And it was his ruthless assault of Hardik Pandya in the fifth over of the innings that could be seen as a key moment in the Proteas’ chase.

Pandya, who had bowled a fair bit in IPL 2022 and was included in the side as an all-rounder and not just a batter, was introduced into the attack in the fifth over, right after leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal leaked 16 runs in the fourth over.

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Pretorius went for a wild swing in the first ball and missed. He more than made up for it with a well-timed pull off a short-of-length ball next up, before going even bigger over the midwicket region to make it back-to-back hits over the fence. The 33-year-old from Randfontein would then inflict further misery on Pandya with a third six in the over, smashing a slightly slower delivery over the square leg region.

Just when Pretorius was beginning to look real menacing and was perhaps setting his sights on converting the solid start into a big, potentially match-winning score, he got deceived by a well-disguised slower full toss from Harshal Patel that went under his bat and rattled the off stump, sending him back to the dugout for 29 off 13.

The middle-order, though, would pick up from where Pretorius left off and ensured the visitors would get across the finish line comfortably in the end.

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