South Africa inflicted a 49-run defeat on India in the third and final T20I on Tuesday. Having won the first two games, India had already sealed the series before the Indore contest.

Rilee Rossouw’s strokefilled 100 not out off 48 balls set up the win for the Proteas as concerns around a faltering Indian bowling attack grew ahead of the T20 World Cup.

A rampaging Rossouw and Quinton de Kock (68 off 43) fired South Africa to 227/3 against a profligate Indian pace attack. Harshal Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Deepak Chahar — all of them leaked in excess of 11 runs per over.

In a high-scoring ground with small dimensions, no total is safe but India kept losing wickets regularly to end at 178 all out in 18.2 overs. \

With Jasprit Bumrah ruled out of the ICC event, India have a lot of work to do in the bowling department.

If the ball is not swinging, India are unable to take wickets in the Powerplay and the bowlers were not able to get their lengths right in the unforgiving death overs.

They were guilty of bowling too full in the last five overs.

Positives in loss

While it was a disappointing defeat, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik getting some much-needed time in the middle was a positive for the Indian team.

Opening the innings in KL Rahul’s absence, Pant looked in ominous form in his 14-ball 27 which included two sumptuous straight drives and a couple of sixes.

It was the first time Pant got to bat in the series. With India playing only five specialist batters, Karthik got to bat at No.4 and he made good use of the opportunity.

His 21-ball 46 included four sixes, one of them was a sensational scoop off Wayne Parnell. After smoking two sixes off Keshav Maharaj, he went for a reverse hit which led to his undoing. Chahar once again showed his ability with the bat as he delayed the inevitable with an entertaining 31 off 17 balls.

Happy coach

Despite the defeat, India head coach Rahul Dravid was happy with the team’s overall performance.

“Good to get the right results in both series (vs Australia and South Africa). In this format, you need luck, things to go your way, especially in close games. We didn’t have that in the Asia Cup. We were able to rotate the squad a bit, pleased with how it’s gone overall. We made a decision after the last T20 WC, sat down with Rohit, made a conscious effort to be positive,” Dravid said after the match.

Written with inputs from PTI