Faf du Plessis lauds the Proteas for the character they showed in the T20 series

After winning the second T20I encounter in Centurion, the hosts are high on confidence as they aim to continue the momentum going into the deciding fixture in Cape Town. The Proteas absolutely outclassed the Indians to pull the series on level terms, courtesy some fine performance from their wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen.

And prior to Saturday’s final encounter, South African skipper Faf du Plessis, who had been ruled out of the series, sent a message to pep his team. Du Plessis is currently sitting out after he incurred an injury after first One-Day International between India and South Africa. The 33-year-old suffered an injury to his fingers following which he was forced to the bench for the remainder of the series.

Although out of the squad, Faf made sure to keep his teammates pumped as he took to micro-blogging site Twitter and wrote, “Great character shown by a young protea team.well batted @jpduminy21 and @Heini22 .enjoyed @JDala3 bowling aswell.bring on the series decider (sic.).”

You can see the Tweet below

Great character shown by a young protea team.well batted @jpduminy21 and @Heini22 .enjoyed @JDala3 bowling aswell.bring on the series decider ???

— Faf Du Plessis (@faf1307) February 21, 2018

A high-octane series finale in the offing

Manish Pandey played a stellar inning of 79 to help India post a total of 188 but eventually ended up on the losing side. Partnered by MS Dhoni at the other end, the duo posted 98 runs for the fifth wicket, but the bowlers fell short to restrict the hosts.

Yuzvendra Chahal who enjoyed a blistering campaign so far was smacked for a whopping 64 runs from his four overs. In the process, Chahal conceded the most runs by an Indian bowler in a T20 International.

Proteas gloveman  Klaasen played a pivotal role with his quickfire 69, as his fireworks powered South Africa to a series-levelling 6-wicket victory. He made Chahal his bunny, hitting him for five sixes on a day when nothing seemed to be going right for the leg-spinner.

Thus with the series evenly poised, the nations lock horn on Saturday in Cape Town, in what promises to be a gruelling contest in a bid to establish their final dominion.

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