India post 172/7 in 3rd T20I

India posted 172/7 in the the third and final Twenty20 International (T20I) against South Africa here on Saturday.

Rookie pacer Junior Dala came up with an excellent performance in what was the second T20I of his fledgling career with figures of 3/35.

Fellow pacer Chris Morris returned 2/43 while left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi also got a wicket.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan was the highest scorer for India with 47 runs off 40 balls. Suresh Raina also batted well, producing a quick fire 43.

The two of them added 65 runs between them off 49 deliveries which provided a strong platform to the visitors' innings.

Asked to bat first, the Indians started their innings on a promising note with Rohit Sharma smashing two back to back boundaries off Chris Morris in the opening over.

But Dala dismissed him early for the second consecutive match when excellent off the the pitch movement and some poor footwork saw the Indian stand-in captain being trapped leg before in the second over.

Raina brought the innings back on track with a power packed 27-ball innings which included five boundaries and a six. He fell in the 10th over to Shamsi when he failed to clear the long-on boundary and was caught by Farhaan Behardien.

The in-form Manish Pandey did not last long, falling to a short-pitched delivery from Dala which cramped him for space and his mistimed pull holed out to David Miller at long-on.

Dhawan also fell soon after when an accurate throw by Dala from deep mid-wicket caught him short of his crease.

The visitors kept on losing wickets at regular intervals as the South African bowlers restricted them to a manageable total.

Brief scores:

India: 172/7 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 47, Suresh Raina 43; Junior Dala 3/35) vs South Africa.

--IANS

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