South African speedster Vernon Philander gets hitched

A number of cricketers got hitched in the last one year, and the latest player to join the married club is South African seaming all-rounder Vernon Philander. While the Proteas team succumbed to a disappointing defeat in the final T20at Cape Town, Proteas Test cricketer Vernon Philander got married to his sweetheart Mandy. Philander had earlier played a clinical role at the same venue during the Test series with his clinical figures of 6/42, handing India a 72-run defeat in the Test opener.

The news of Philander’s marriage was confirmed by South Africa’s domestic cricket side Cape Cobras. A statement on the club’s official Twitter page read, “Wishing @VDP_24 and his wife Mandy a lifetime of happiness after they tied the knot.”

You can see the Tweet below

Wishing @VDP_24 and his wife Mandy a lifetime of happiness after they tied the knot yesterday pic.twitter.com/L0EVBMBFyb

— COBRAS CRICKET (@CobrasCricket) February 23, 2018

Match Details

The decider in Cape Town turned out to be a spectacular affair as the match went down to the wire with both teams putting in everything to seal the series. However, India skipper Virat Kohli was ruled out of the tie owing to a stiff back. In his absence, India’s trusted opener Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy reigns.

Batting first, India got off to a slow start as Junior Dala struck early to dismiss Rohit Sharma. Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina combined well for a 65-run partnership as India managed to post a total of 172/7 on the board. Junior Dala was the pick amongst the Proteas bowlers with three wickets.

Despite some nervy moments towards the end, Rohit Sharma showed some smart captaincy to keep things under control. Christiaan Jonker played a brilliant cameo at the end to keep South Africa in the hunt after the Proteas failed to keep up with the asking rate throughout the innings.

However, the stand-in skipper had Bhuvneshwar Kumar to thank for keeping his nerve and giving away only 11 off the last over when South Africa needed 19 runs to win.  In the end, South Africa fell short, managing 165 in their target of 173.