Sports: Rishabh Pant lauds his team for 'spot-on execution' after win over SA in 3rd T20I

Visakhapatnam: India skipper Rishabh Pant lavished praise on his team for their all-round performance which helped them defeat South Africa in the third T20I of five-match series.

All-round performance by India helped them in defeating South Africa by 48 runs in the third T20I of five-match series at Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.

"The execution was spot-on from the bowlers and the batters. We were 15 runs short, but we weren't thinking about that. Bowlers did a fantastic job for us. In India, spinners play a big role and there is pressure on them, when they come off nicely then matches like this happen," said Pant in a post-match presentation.

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"When you get a good start, it's difficult for a new batter to come in and go big straight away. We lost too many wickets. We'll look to improve in the next match. We have to make sure that we finish the game with a bigger margin," he added.

India have opened their account in the five-match T20I series with this win in the do-or-die clash. With the series still 2-1 in favour of the visitors, the fourth T20I will be played on Friday at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Gujarat.

Batting first, a 97-run stand between Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) and Ishan Kishan (54) powered India to 179/5 in their allotted 20 overs. The first innings was a see-saw one as India dominated the first half of the innings, but South Africa pulled back momentum to their side in the other half.

In reply, the Proteas never looked like going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and in the end were bundled out for 131 with five balls still to play. 

Also Read | Ind vs SA: Rishabh Pant rues lack of execution in bowling after 7-wicket defeat against Proteas

For Men in Blue, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel starred with the ball as they bagged three and four wickets respectively to derail the visitors' chase. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Axar Patel scalped one wicket apiece.

Proteas and the Men in Blue will be squaring off for the fourth T20I at Rajkot on Friday. (ANI)

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