T20 World Cup final: India lose top three run getters – Rohit, Pant and SKY – in powerplay

After Virat Kohli ripped into Marco Jansen in the first over of the T20 World Cup final, South Africa captain Aiden Markram turned to Keshav Maharaj to bowl the second over.

On a flattest deck this tournament has seen, Maharaj also coped a couple of boundaries but swiftly helped South Africa find a way back into the game with twin strikes in his first over.

First, Rohit Sharma. A tossed up delivery on the off stump, and the Indian captain went into it with a hard sweep but was unable to keep it down and found Heinrich Klaasen, who hung onto it at backward square leg.

 

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Incoming batter Rishabh Pant was served a similar delivery – tossed up and on the off stump – but the keeper-batter’s shot execution was miscued as opposed to nailed hard as his skipper did. It took a leading edge and Quinton de Kock barely had to move a muscle to claim the catch.

While Rohit has been India’s leading run scorer at this World Cup – with three fifties to his name, two of which came in the last two games against Australia and England – Pant had shouldered the chunk of run scoring in India’s group stage fixtures. His run scoring has tapered off since the second round.

Before the end of the powerplay, India have also lost Suryakumar Yadav, who has been the second highest run-getter for the team at this tournament. Kagiso Rabada claimed the wicket. The shot, one of Surya’s go-to-strokes, was picked from the off stump to backward square leg fence where Klaasen latched onto it.

Kohli, who has been under the scanner through the World Cup, had a relatively smooth start as India finished the powerplay with the score of 45/3.

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