'Broke their back': Cricket world reacts to Chahal's spin heroics against SA in 3rd T20I

The Indian cricket team made a stellar comeback in the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa, by winning the 3rd T20I of the series on Tuesday at Vishakapatnam. Heading into the match after losing the opening two games, the Rishabh Pant-led team posted a total of 179 runs on the board in the first innings and restricted the visitors to 131 all-out in the second. While pacer Harshal Patel made headlines for finishing the match with four wickets to his credit, wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also received praises from a few of the prominent names in the Indian cricket fraternity for his performance.

Chahal finished the match with the figures of 3/20 in his quota of four overs, after picking up the important wickets of Dwaine Pretorius, Rassie van der Dussen, and Heinrich Klaasen. Meanwhile, former India cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, and Wasim Jaffer heaped praises on the player for his stellar effort that powered India to victory. The Indian domestic cricket legend Jaffer mentioned in his tweet that Chahal broke South Africa’s backbone by conceding just one boundary.

Yuzvendra Chahal's performance praised all over

“My player of the match would be @yuzi_chahal. Broke the back of SA middle order. 4-0-20-3 conceded just one boundary. Super stuff,” Jaffer wrote. Harbhajan took to his official Twitter handle and revealed his thoughts on India’s comeback, courtesy of their bowling efforts. “Good to see team India making a comeback in the series .. top win with some top bowling performances @yuzi_chahal #harshalpatel @BCCI #INDvsSAT20,” Harbhajan wrote on Twitter. 

Meanwhile, Irfan credited India’s young skipper Rishabh Pant for rotating the bowlers well in the second innings. ”Solid comeback by team India Defended the total in style. Pant rotated the bowlers well too,” Irfan said. During the run chase by the Proteas squad, allrounder Axar Patel gave India their first breakthrough by dismissing Temba Bavuma, before Harshal Patel removed Reeza Hendricks.

A look at India's bowling effort in IND vs SA, 3rd T20I

Chahal removed key Proteas players like Pretorius and van der Dussen in the space of two overs, before picking up the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen in his second spell. Harshal, meanwhile, took the wickets of David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, and Tabraiz Shamsi to help India win the game and complete his four-wicket haul as well. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also took one wicket and finished the match with the figures of 1/21 in four overs.

Image: BCCI.tv