T20 World Cup: Suryakumar's gutsy fifty guides India to 133/9 against SA

Perth: South African pacers spit fire with the ball to restrict India to a score of 133/9, despite Suryakumar Yadav's brilliance with the bat on Sunday at Perth in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The Proteas pacers danced to the beats of Suryakumar Yadav's drum as he put on a show with the bat to help India reach a sub-par total at the pacy Perth pitch, after India's horrendous start to their batting inning. Opting to bat first, India started watchfully with KL Rahul playing a maiden to Wayne Parnell in the first over. The Indian captain opened India's and his account with a massive six of Kagiso Rababda in the second over. KL Rahul also took a leaf out of Rohit Sharma's book and smashed a six in the third over to open his account.
Rohit continued to attack as he smashed a four in the square leg region of Lungi Ngidi but the pacer had the last laugh after he dismissed the Indian captain with a short delivery for 15(14).
The Indian team suffered a mini batting collapse after this with the Protea pacers firing on all cylinders. Ngidi got rid of Rahul in the same over, dismissing him for 9(14). Rahul's stint of low scores continued as he was dismissed for the third time inside the powerplay at the T20 World Cup 2022.
India recorded another low score in the powerplay at the World Cup, as they ended with 33/2, having previously scored 32/1 against Netherlands and 31/3 with Pakistan.
Virat Kohli seemed set for a big score once again as he played two picturesque shots of Ngidi to get things going for him. However, the lanky pacer got the better of him. He bowled a pacy bouncer to dismiss the man in form for 12(11).
Axar Patel's replacement, Deepak Hooda failed to make use of his opportunity and got out to Anrich Nortje for a duck in the eight over.
Hardik Pandya failed to repeat his Pakistan match heroics as he became the fourth wicket for Ngidi. Rabada grabbed a superb catch at fine leg to get rid of Pandya for 2(3).
Suryakumar Yadav was unfazed by the wickets falling around him and lofted Nortje for a beautiful six in the 10th over, refusing to pull his foot off the pedal. India were 60/5 at the end of the 10 overs, with Suryakumar and Dinesh Karthik at the crease.
The batting duo batted sensibly and resurrected India's inning with an important sixth-wicket batting partnership. Karthik took on the role of playing second fiddle while Suryakumar kept playing his shots, helping India gain some much-needed momentum in the game.
Keshav Maharaj was taken to the cleaners by Suryakumar as he smashed a boundary and a six in his two-over spell. The explosive batter struck a beautiful on-drive to bring up his fifty in the 15th over off just 30 balls.
Just when India looked set to attack the South African pacers in the last five overs, Parnell came back to get rid of Karthik to end the 52-run sixth-wicket partnership. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored just 6 off 15 balls.
Ravichandran Ashwin walked to the crease to join the batter in pursuit to take India to a challenging total but the spinner scored just 7(11).
Suryakumar played attacking shots despite the wickets falling around him and took India beyond the 120-run mark however, the batter could not carry his bat through the innings and was dismissed by Parnell in the 19th over for a brilliant 68 off 40 balls.
India could not add much to their tally after the batter's dismissal and ended with 133/9 after 20 overs.
Lungi Ngidi was the pick of the bowlers dismissing four Indian batters while Parnell bagged three wickets.
Brief Score: 133/9 India (Suryakumar Yadav 68, Rohit Sharma 15; Lungi Ngidi 4/29) (ANI)