Karthik, Avesh Star As India Level Series Against South Africa In 4th T20I

India defeated South Africa by 82 runs in the 4th T20I to level the series 2-2.

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Dinesh Karthik's fifty followed by Avesh Khan's four-fer helped India defeat South Africa by 82 runs in the fourth T20I and level the series 2-2. 

Chasing 170, South Africa got their first blow, not through a wicket but Temba Bavuma getting retired hurt after being struck by Avesh in the fourth over. In the next over, Quinton de Kock had a massive miscommunication with his partner Dwaine Pretorius to get run out. Three balls later, Pretorius followed him to the pavilion. 

With pitch doing something for the bowlers, South African batters had it difficult to hit and kept losing wickets to keep up with the required run rate. In the 14th over, Avesh, removed Rassie Van der Dussen, Marco Jansen, and Keshav Maharaj to completely push South Africa out of the game. 

With Bavuma not being able to bat, India finished the game inside 17 overs and took the five-match series into the decider on Sunday. 

Earlier, after a poor start to the inning where India found themselves 40/3 in 6.1 overs, Karthik and Pandya took the team to a competitive 169/6 in the first inning. 

Pandya was the architect of the inning where he added 41 runs in 40 balls with Rishabh Pant, who was struggling at the other with 16 off 20 balls. Pandya then added 65 runs in just 33 balls for the fifth wicket to give a brilliant finish. 

Pandya scored 46 off 31 balls with the help of three sixes and three fours. Karthik came out to bat in the 13th over and smacked 55 runs in just 27 balls with the help of nine fours and two sixes. This was Karthik's first T20I fifty in his 18-year-long career in the shorter format. 

Brief Scorecard: 

India - 169/6 (Dinesh Karthik - 55, Hardik Pandya - 46)
South Africa - 87/9 in 16.5 overs (Rassie Van der Dussen - 20; Avesh Khan - 4/18)