India vs South Africa, 4th T20I, Stats Review: Dinesh Karthik’s maiden T20I fifty, South Africa's lowest total, and other stats

Dinesh Karthik’s splendid form continued as he registered his maiden T20 international fifty to help India in posting a competitive total of 169/6, eventually winning the fourth match of the series by a massive margin of 82 runs in Rajkot. Hardik Pandya also scripted his highest score in the format as he scored 46 off 31 with three fours and as many maximums. Avesh Khan, who hadn’t taken a single wicket in the last three games, came back with a bang to bowl a superb spell of 4/18. With this victory, India has now levelled the series 2-2, with the fifth and the final match set to take place on June 19 in Bengaluru.

Speaking about how the match panned out, Rishabh Pant lost his fourth straight toss of the series as South Africa opted to field first. Ruturaj Gaikwad fell early for just five runs to Lungi Ngidi, who played his first match of the tour. Ishan Kishan scored 27 with three fours and a six while Shreyas Iyer could only manage four runs. Skipper Pant disappointed yet again as he got dismissed for 17 off 23. Karthik and Hardik then stitched a 65-run partnership, with the former smashing 55 off just 27, which included nine fours and two sixes. Tabraiz Shamsi bowled two overs and went wicketless while all the other bowlers were amongst the wickets.

In reply, the South African innings never really got going. Returning from injury, wicketkeeper batter Quinton de Kock amassed 14 while captain Temba Bavuma got retired out for eight runs. Rassie van der Dussen top-scored for the visitors with his 20 runs as no other player contributed for the Proteas. Avesh’s four-wicket haul and Yuzvendra Chahal’s spell of 2/21 meant South Africa recorded their lowest total (87) in T20Is, beating their previous lowest of 89 against Australia in 2020. For his exceptional innings of 55 runs, Karthik won the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 4^th T20I between India and South Africa:

 1 – Dinesh Karthik registered his maiden fifty in the 30^th innings in T20 internationals.

46 – Hardik Pandya recorded his highest T20I score of 46. His previous best was 42 not out against Australia in 2020.

55 – Karthik also scripted the highest score of 55 at No. 6 or lower for India in T20Is. The previous best was 52 not out by MS Dhoni, also at no. 6 against the Proteas in 2018.

51 – Quinton de Kock completed the landmark of 50 catches as a wicketkeeper in the T20Is. MS Dhoni tops the chart with 57 grabs to his name.

100 – Axar Patel reached the landmark of 100 wickets across formats.

5 – India recorded their fifth-largest victory in terms of runs (82) in T20Is.

4/18 – Avesh registered the best bowling figures of 4/18 in Rajkot. The previous best (4/34) was by Trent Boult in 2017.

4 – Rishabh Pant lost his fourth toss in four games in this series.

50 – Temba Bavuma completed 50 fours in T20 internationals.

4 – Avesh picked up his first wicket in the fourth match of the ongoing series. He had gone wicketless in 11 overs in the previous three matches.

1 – India also scripted their largest T20I win against the Proteas in terms of runs (82). Previously, they defeated them by 48 runs in the last match of the ongoing series itself.

65 – Karthik and Hardik recorded the third-highest fifth-wicket partnership (65 runs) for India against South Africa in T20Is. Dhoni and Manish Pandey added 98* in 2018 while Dhoni with Rohit Sharma added 85 runs in 2007.