South Africa vs India 2018, 3rd T20I: Hits and Misses

India's tour of South Africa, which started with a couple of heartbreaking losses in the Test series, has come to a close with back-to-back series victories for the Men in Blue. After a game that went down to the last over, the visitors clinched the T20I series by a margin of 2-1 with a 7-run victory in Cape Town on Saturday (February 24).

Virat Kohli could not participate in the decider and Rohit Sharma led the team in his absence. The Mumbai Indians skipper did his job with commendable effort and ensured that India lifted their second trophy before drawing the curtains on this long-drawn-out trip.

Here are the hits and misses from the final game of the tour:

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#5 Hit: Hardik Pandya

It was a quiet yet brilliant bowling display from the all-rounder

Hardik Pandya - played every game on the tour and did it all - batted, bowled, fielded, sledged, changed hair colour #SAvIND

— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) February 24, 2018

Even the mighty Kohli, eventually, had to sit out of a game on this extensive tour. However, Hardik Pandya has completed every match in the series and he might not have shone as much with the bat, but has made huge strides as the bowler in this period.

The young all-rounder went about his business with efficiency and professionalism today. He scored a valuable 21 off 17 deliveries with the bat and followed it up with a quiet yet brilliant performance with the ball.

He sneaked his four overs past the Proteas batsmen and gave away just 22 runs in the process. He didn't have a wicket till his second last delivery of the game but had done the job for his team by that point.

In the 13th over of the chase, he scalped the biggest wicket of the hosts and sent the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen back to the pavilion.

#4 Miss: MS Dhoni

The wicketkeeper could not replicate his heroics from the last game

The former Indian skipper played a splendid knock of 52 off just 28 deliveries in the second game of the series. Hence, when he strode out to the middle after Dhawan's departure in the 16th over of the match, the expectations were, as usual, very high.

However, the Indian wicketkeeper could not live up to them this time around. He scored just 12 runs off 11 deliveries before falling in the second last over of the game.

He tried to go big in an attempt to hit a six down the ground, but his shot garnered more height and less length. He was caught by David Miller in the deep. Things unravelled for India after his dismissal and they could not finish the innings with the flurry they started it with.

#3 Hit: Junior Dala

What a series it has been for this pacer

The novice seamer has been the performer of the series for the hosts and has trampled the Indian batsmen with his fresh yet disciplined bowling. Very rarely does a debutant outperform his teammates over the course of a bilateral series, but Junior Dala has done exactly that.

In Cape Town, he bowled exceptionally well with the new ball to dismiss Rohit Sharma for the third consecutive time. The Indian opener and skipper for the day was looking dangerous in the middle and had scored 11 off 8 deliveries before the youngster trapped him LBW in the second over of the game.

The right-arm seamer's next wicket came in the form of Manish Pandey, who had scored an exceptional fifty for India in the previous game. He departed for a meagre total of 13 after being cramped for room by a short delivery from Dala.

The 28-year-old was far from done though. With an extraordinary effort in the field, he lifted his teammates after running Shikhar Dhawan out with a direct throw from the deep. South Africa had had some awful blunders in the field up until that point, and this dismissal lifted their spirits and eventually, their game.

The wicket of MS Dhoni, who is a very clinical finisher, was scalped by Dala in the second last over of the game. He finished with figures of 3 for 35 in his 4 over spell.

#2 Miss: Axar Patel

It was a bad day for the off-spinner

This miss comes off bad fortune more than it does off a bad performance. The off-spinner had warmed the bench for India since the ODI series began and his chance to feature in the playing XI came in the last game of the T20I series.

However, it was an extremely forgettable outing on the field for Axar Patel.

On his first delivery, he had the chance to get a wicket when Heinrich Klaasen hit it straight to Shardul Thakur at long on. However, the seamer made a mess of an easy catch and dropped the South African keeper.

The Kings XI Punjab bowler was absolutely belted by Duminy in the next two deliveries, which yielded 12 runs. The rest of the over was relatively quiet, but the damage was already done.

In the one over that Patel got to bowl throughout this tour, he gave away 16 runs and a catch was dropped too. Can't get much worse, can it?

#1 Hit: Suresh Raina

It has been a good comeback for the left-hander

It is safe to say that the left-handed batsman has made a successful comeback to the national side. Every time he came out to bat in this series, he had a positive mindset from the get-go while trying to spank the South African bowlers to all parts of the ground.

The approach worked for Suresh Raina today, as he played a brilliant innings of 47 after coming in at Number 3. It took him just 27 deliveries to score those runs and his aggressive batting helped India to build on their blistering start.

In the second innings of the game, he also took the white ball for the first time in this series. In his cheeky little way, the 30-year-old managed to scalp the wicket of Miller with his off-break bowling.

The left-handed Miller had been sent up the batting order by Duminy, and courtesy Raina, this interesting experiment could not bear any fruit.