Man of the match Suresh Raina hopes to contribute with the ball in the future

The grand finale of the 3-match T20I series between India and South Africa treated us with a cracker of a match at Cape Town. JP Duminy, after winning the toss, opted to chase under lights.

India, after a stop-start kind of innings, went on to post an above par total of 172. South Africa, in reply, went off to a sluggish start to apply immense pressure on themselves in the backend of the innings.

The Indian innings was fired up by comeback man Suresh Raina who scored an impressive 43 off 27 balls. Raina also came back into the field to pick up a wicket with the ball, apart from bowling three nominal overs.

However, JP Duminy and debutant Christiaan Jonker had other ideas as they almost chased down the required total to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. In the end, South Africa fell heartbreakingly seven runs short which gave the T20I series to India by 2-1.

Man of the match, Suresh Raina appeared content with his overall contribution to the team on his comeback trail.

“You need to show intent in the first 6 overs. When you get the ball in your area, you hit it (on the first-ball six). The way we played in Tests and One-Days, we looked so calm. Things looked up to the mark,” claimed Raina during the post-match presentation.

The Indian number three credited the Indian support staff for their contributions. Also, the southpaw felt that bowling to two left-handed batsmen worked in his favor.

“Credit goes to the support staff, who gave us a lot of confidence to express ourselves. Bowling to two lefties after the 7th over gave me a lot of confidence. I have been working hard on my bowling, hopefully you’ll see more in the future,” concluded Raina