Red Bull Campus Cricket 2019 World Finals: South Africa stop India’s unbeaten run just ahead of the Play-offs

In a crucial Group A match, DAV Chandigarh, the Red Bull Campus Cricket 2019 India champions took on a strong South African team at the ICC Cricket Academy Stadium in Dubai. Both the teams were coming into the match on the back of two comprehensive wins. With four points each, they had made a qualifier spot certain and it was about sealing a top-two berth.

The Proteas team was considered a superior side with the kind of talent in its ranks and their performance leading up to the match. It proved to be the better of the two sides in a one-sided contest on Wednesday evening.

South African captain Jivesheen Pillay won the toss and decided to bat first. The wicket at the ICC Cricket Academy has been true for the batsmen and scoring big in the first innings has been a success mantra for all teams. India beat both Bangladesh and England after setting larger targets which ensured its weak bowling wasn’t exposed.

This time, however, they were in unfamiliar situation the opening stand worth 44 runs between skipper Pillay and Francois Van Herendeen set the tone for a massive total. Pankaj Sharma got India the first breakthrough, but wickets were tough and sparse to come. Jandre Pretorious scored a well-crafted half-century and a fiery 9-ball 40 from Aron Visser really pushed the South African total to 189/7 which proved to be beyond the reach of the Indians.

For DAV, Himanshu and Pankaj picked up a couple of wickets each while Treyaksh Bali, Abhijot Singh and Sagar Sharma shared one apiece.

South African derail the Indian chase

When India walked out to bat, their star batsman Bali who was the Man of the Match in the previous match against England with a 94 got out for a single-digit score. His partner Prabhnoor Bhalla joined him in the dugout soon after. India couldn’t really recover from the poor start and despite revival efforts from Mayank and Sagar Sharma, the asking rate kept mounting and the pressure was just too much for them to handle.

They did take the game deep but were out of hunt in the last part of the chase. In the end, the Indian innings concluded on 127/8 and they lost the match by 62 runs. As a result, South Africa now qualify as Group A topper and will get two chances to make it to the final. India, on the other hand, will play the Eliminator and will have to earn the way to the summit clash.

Brief Scores:

South Africa – 189/7 in 20 overs

India – 127/8 in 20 overs

South Africa won by 62 runs.