IND v NZ T20Is and SA v AUS Tests: who delivered, who didn't
India won the T20I series 3-2 in New Zealand, but Glenn Phillips took a world record and Player of the Series. In South Africa, Australia arrived as the No.1 Test side and left beaten 2-1 after being bowled out for 99 and 111. Who delivered and who didn't on each side.
Key points
- Abhishek Sharma made 113 off 38 balls in Wellington, and India chased 226 at Hagley Oval, their highest successful T20I chase.
- India's bowling conceded 1,057 runs for 22 wickets across five games.
- Glenn Phillips scored 341 runs, the most ever in a bilateral T20I series, and was Player of the Series from the losing side.
- Marco Jansen (198 runs, 13 wickets) was Player of the Series in South Africa; Simon Harmer took 10 wickets at Newlands and Temba Bavuma's 179 turned the series.
- The stat that sums it up: Jansen alone made 198 runs; Smith and Labuschagne together made 214.
Chapters
- Cold open
- India v New Zealand
- India: what worked
- India: what didn't
- New Zealand: what worked
- Player of the Series and verdict
- South Africa v Australia
- South Africa: what worked
- Australia: what worked
- The stat that sums it up
- Wrap-up
The full story
India v New Zealand. India were 3-0 up inside a week, then New Zealand made 259, the highest T20I total ever made against India, and chased 192 with two overs left. India's batting depth was real: Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy took 68 off the last 29 balls in the second game, and Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan steered Hamilton. The bowling was not: one wicket in four games for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakravarthy going at over 11 in the last match, and no Jasprit Bumrah to close an innings. Mitchell Santner took nine wickets, the most in the series, and Phillips' line summed up his month: more of a hunter, less of the prey.
South Africa v Australia. Australia won in Durban by 214, then lost at Gqeberha by an innings and at Newlands by 176. Jansen's 85 and 5 for 33 bowled Australia out for 99; Harmer's 6 for 16 on the final day at Newlands finished the series; Wiaan Mulder and Ryan Rickelton made hundreds in the decider and debutant Marques Ackermann added 95 and 62. For Australia, Mitchell Starc took 15 wickets, Matt Renshaw made 369 runs and Josh Hazlewood took a career-best 6 for 49, but Labuschagne averaged under 22, Smith under 21 before a neck problem ruled him out, and Cummins took six wickets at nearly 55. South Africa are No.1 in the world; Australia have homework if the two meet in the WTC final.
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