Indian opener Ishan Kishan and South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi were engaged in a heated exchange of words during India's 48-run victory over the visitors in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. The incident happened in the ninth over of India's innings in the third T20I after Ishan Kishan attempted a reverse sweep on a Tabraiz Shamsi delivery, but couldn't connect it well as the ball went straight to the point fielder. Notably, Ishan Kishan had smacked the previous ball for a six and tried to do the same on the next delivery. While there's little doubt that the two players were angry at each other for a while, the duo eventually calmed down.
After the other Indian opener, Ruturaj Gaikwad completed his half-century which brought Ishan Kishan on strike, the southpaw dispatched Shamsi's next ball over the midwicket boundary for a huge six. The following delivery was a low full-toss, but Ishan Kishan couldn't find the gap and the ball went straight to the fielder. Seeing Ishan Kishan's aggression, Tabraiz Shamsi came close to him and muttered something in his ear.
Ishan Kishan, however, didn't stay quiet as he gave an angry look before shouting a few words at him.
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The whole episode also charged up Ishan Kishan as the explosive batter reached his fifty in just 31 balls.
Ishan Kishan's opening partner Ruturaj Gaikwad too made a half-century as India posted a competitive 179/5 in the first innings.
With 180 needed to win the series, South Africa floundered from the beginning, losing captain Temba Bavuma early in the chase.
From there on, it became a Yuzvendra Chahal show as the wrist spinner grabbed three crucial wickets to put South Africa on the backfoot with their score reading 100/6 in the 15th over.
Later, Harshal Patel joined the party as he finished with figures of 25/4, helping India to their maiden win in the series.
As expected, India captain Rishabh Pant was elated with his team's triumph, hailing his bowlers for executing their plans well and delivering on their promise after two bad days in the office.
“I talked about execution and that's what we saw today, from both batters and bowlers. We thought we were about 15 short but we weren't thinking too much about that; the bowlers did a fantastic job. Especially in India the spinners play a big role in the middle overs to contain the batsmen. So there is pressure on them to perform, but in such matches when it comes off, this is what happen. I don't think it's a good thing for us (middle order not performing), but after a good start it's difficult for new batsmen to go straight away. We will try to improve in the next match,” Pant said during the post-match presentation.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma blamed the Proteas batting and fielding for their defeat as he highlighted that they failed to get the partnerships going.
“It wasn't our best effort today collectively. With the ball they put us under pressure. Probably could have done more, batting didn't pitch up, we couldn't get any partnerships or momentum. This game, yes, our fielding wasn't up to scratch. There have been some improvements. We have been among the best in the world but I won't judge us only on this game. While batting we always try to have a look at the first two overs and then get some momentum. We couldn't do that, and we came under pressure after losing three early wickets. Quinton is an integral member of the team, even with this experience and knowledge. Reeza is someone we back at the top and we've seen what he's done in domestic. Quinton is not there, we can't cry over that,” he said.
Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, the two heroes of India's win, also revealed that their plans worked in the match. They also declared that they were happy to achieve their goals in Visakhapatnam.
“We wanted to execute certain plans which didn't work out in the last few games for us. You follow the process… those are the things that carry you and improve your game. We want to continue to achieve our bowling goals. It was slower than Kotla, and easier to bowl hard lengths,” Harshal Patel mentioned.
Chahal, meanwhile, claimed that he had made a lot of changes to his bowling and it eventually paid off.
“I was bowling too many and quick sliders in the last game. I spoke to Paras sir and coaches about it. So I tried to bowl quick legbreaks, but with a different seam position today. I want to turn and dip the ball, I couldn't do it the last time so they were able to hit through the line. I tried to get some turn and change the line of the ball. I was trying to bowl to my strengths today. When you get middle-order batsmen out in the middle overs, the pressure is on them. Batsmen try a lot of sweeps and reverse sweeps these days so we have to be prepared for that too, as bowlers. In the last game too there was some help for spinners but I didn't bowl that well. The ground is big, thankfully in Rajkot (laughs)!”
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