• Plays of the day

    Kobus Pretorius reflects on the players and moments that shaped their World T20 clash with West Indies in Nagpur on Friday.

    BATSMAN OF THE DAY
    Marlon Samuels (43 off 44) for keeping the West Indies run-chase together, despite being dropped by Imran Tahir in the 17th over. The Windies needed someone to bat for a period of time after Chris Gayle was bowled by Kagiso Rabada in the first over.

    SHOT OF THE DAY
    The huge six Carlos Brathwaite smacked over midwicket off the second ball of Kagiso Rabada’s 20th over to all but seal the result. Needing nine off the last over, the six made it just three from four balls.

    BOWLER OF THE DAY
    Going purely on statistics, Imran Tahir was excellent for his 2-13 in four overs. However, Chris Gayle (2-17 in three) and Dwayne Bravo (2-20 in four) were equally impressive on a pitch which heavily favoured the slow bowlers. The three of them can share the spoils.

    DELIVERY OF THE DAY
    There are two candidates. Kagiso Rabada’s swinger which bowled Chris Gayle in the first over, and Imran Tahir’s googly which deceived Darren Sammy to crash into middle stump. Both wickets were massive in a potential unlikely victory, so again, the spoils are shared.

    CATCH OF THE DAY
    Sulieman Benn’s take to get rid of Faf du Plessis, who mistimed a stroke straight to mid-off where the tall Benn had to bend forward and wrap his fingers under the ball.

    SILLY RUN-OUT
    It all started with Hashim Amla’s run-out after Quinton de Kock hesitated in taking the run and leaving Amla just short. It set the tone for the South African innings and it all went south from there.

    SPIN DOMINATION 
    As predicted, the spinners has a massive influence on the outcome of this game and even though both Imran Tahir and Aaron Phangiso were exceptional, they were let down by the batsmen who failed to put enough runs on the board.

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    SA CRICKET