Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan shine with the bat as India restore parity in the ODI series

The Men in Blue reigned supreme over a gobsmacked South Africa as they posted a phenomenal batting display to outclass the visitors. It was a narrative of belief and a showdown of imperious dominion to rule out the visitors without any ado whatsoever. Shahbaz Ahmed bagged his international debut and was pretty firm with the cherry in his hand to promise better posterity.

South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first on a surface that seemed pretty intact and promised to generate some late reverse swing, which made batting a bit too difficult in the second half. India struck early as Mohammed Siraj’s inswinger was played on by Quinton de Kock to his own stumps laying down the marker for the impending Miyan magic.

The RCB southpaw, Shahbaz Ahmed, announced his arrival on the international stage in the boldest of colors as he bagged the crucial scalp of Janneman Malan just when the latter seemed to get comfortable in the middle. However, Team India allowed South Africa to slip through their fingers as an incoming Reeza Hendricks partnered perfectly with Aiden Markram to propel the visitors to a staggering 169 before Mohammed Siraj returned to strike a second blow.

Despite the departure of Hendricks, David Miller and Markram put up another fine stand of 46 runs before India could reel the visitors back in. Despite a fine flow of runs in the middle, the death overs saw the hosts strangling South Africa hard and Mohammed Siraj was the chief craftsman of the torment.

He finished with excellent figures of 10-1-38-3 while the Indian batters had a tall ask at their hands. Debutant Shahbaz conjured decent numbers too as he finished his quota at 10-0-54-1. Apart from the Indian bowling, their fielding was equally brilliant as Mohammed Siraj plucked a ripper from mid-air to remove the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen.

The Indian batters started on a fine note with both Shubman Gill and Shikhar Dhawan firing from the word go. Gill pressed the pedal while Dhawan dropped the anchor as the chase motored along well until Parnell returned the Indian skipper while Gill followed suit in quick succession.

As darkness loomed, India found a couple of new saviors on a Sunday night who were at the top of their games and didn’t spare an inch for the visitors that could have aided the latter’s cause. Ishan Kishan started striking early while Shreyas Iyer focused more on the partnership initially.

However, once the early jitters were off, the duo went ballistic, often resorting to the aerial route as they dispatched the cherries across the ropes with extreme prejudice. Ishan’s heroics were stand-and-deliver while Shreyas waltzed his way across the pitch to pepper the bowlers into every single nook and cranny of the park.

Ishan missed out on his maiden international century by a whisker as Fortuin removed him for 93 but that did very little to deter the Indians as an incoming Sanju Samson booked a front-row seat to Shreyas Iyer’s maddening rampage. The KKR captain stayed unbeaten for 113 as India sailed comfortably over the finish line to restore parity in the ODI series. All eyes will now shift to the Indian capital as a crackling series decider awaits on Tuesday.