JOIN USSuresh Raina scored a quick-fire 43 and grabbed the key wicket of David Miller as India defeated South Africa by seven runs to claim a 2-1 victory in their Twenty20 International series at Newlands on Saturday.
Sent in to bat, India, without injured captain Virat Kohli, posted 172 for seven in their 20 overs before restricting South Africa to 165 for six.
Raina's runs came from just 27 balls as he caressed five fours and a six, putting on 65 for the second wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (47 from 40 balls). Seamer Junior Dala (3-35) was the pick of the home bowlers as he posted career-best figures.
South Africa made a sluggish start to their reply and were always behind the required run-rate.
Explosive Miller (24 from 23 balls) was elevated to open the batting, but was bogged down by the line of the Indian bowlers and fell to Raina (1-27 in three overs) as he tried to up the tempo.
Only captain JP Duminy (55 from 41 balls) and debutant Christiaan Jonker (49 from 24 balls) were able to muster innings of substance.
South Africa required 19 off the final over bowled by the excellent Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-24), but were restricted to just a single boundary to fall short of their target.
India's just ended their two-month tour of South Africa on a high. India lost Test series 2-1 but were thumped the Proteas 5-1 in the one-day internationals before securing the T20Is 2-1.
Earlier, Dhawan and Raina put on 65 runs for the second wicket and spearheaded the Indian innings. But the visitors never really hit fifth gear and the innings was patchy throughout as compared to the previous two games.
This was after skipper Kohli was ruled out of the game. He had warmed up before the game, but didn't turn up for the toss due to stiff back. Rohit led the side.
Put into bat for the third consecutive time in this T20 series, Rohit (11) was off the blocks quickly taking 13 runs off Chris Morris (2/43) first over.
Dala though got Rohit out for the third time in three matches, trapping him lbw on the third ball of his first over. The batsman chose not to review even as the umpire did check for a no ball.
Raina though upped the tempo immediately after coming to the crease. With a flurry of boundaries, he and Dhawan took India to 57/1 in the first six overs and their 50-partnership came off 37 balls.
South Africa changed their bowling around quite a bit and Duminy (0-22) bowled a tight first spell that dropped India's run-rate down to 8.5 an over before the half-way stage of their innings.
It also didn't help that Raina holed out off Tabraiz Shamsi (1-31) and was caught at long on.
Dhawan wasn't timing the ball too well, and couldn't make a tall score despite gaining two lives. Shamsi had dropped him twice, on nine in the sixth over off Morris at short third man and then at 34 in the 13th over off Aaron Phangiso (0/13).