India beat South Africa by seven runs in the third T20I at Cape Town and with this win also clinched the three-match series by 2-1. Giving credit to the bowlers for the thrilling victory, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma said that they were 15 runs short and that it was a complete bowling performance that won India the match.
“To be honest, we were 15 runs short. Because the way the first half went, I thought we lost our way in the end. These things happen and we learn from it. I thought it was a decent score and the bowlers did the job for us. I hope games like these teach us a lot of things,” said Sharma.
“We discussed certain plans and it worked today. The idea was to keep the ball on the stumps and we kept it tight in the first six overs. Credit to the new-ball bowlers. It was a complete bowling performance. Throughout the series, we played with a lot of aggression. As a group, we never back down from any situation. That is the reason we are standing here as winners,” he added.
Meanwhile, Southa Africa stand-in skipper JP Duminy said that India bowled pretty well in the Powerplay and that his team just couldn’t get the boundaries. “The difference from their batting Powerplay and ours was 30 runs. I definitely thought 170 was chaseable. The slower balls and the knuckle balls from them worked. I am proud of the way the guys fought, especially Jonker. It is amazing to see a lot of talent coming through. All credit to India, outstanding white-ball tour for them,” he said.
Suresh Raina, who was Man-of-the-Match said, “You need to show intent, especially in the first overs. Thanks to Virat (Kohli) and Ravi (Shahstri) bhai, they gave me the licence. The last we have done in two-and-a-half months, no team has done it in a long time. With two lefties at the crease, I got a ball, and working on it.”
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Man-of-the-Series, said, “Yes, I really enjoyed this tour. I was very happy with my preparation. First of all thanks to IPL, it has made an Indian bowler a thinking bowler. It is important not to give too many runs in the first six overs. I always try to keep it simple. I hardly get these kinds of wickets in India and I enjoyed this.”