Matthew Forde and Marco Jansen get into a slegding war (PC - x.com)
In a heated Super 8 clash between South Africa and the West Indies, Matthew Forde and Marco Jansen had a brief verbal battle at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
With the Windies in muddle, Matthew Forde played an extraordinary pull shot for a maximum in front of square leg. The West Indies all-rounder, playing a sweat stroke, gave it back to the bowler as a lot of chatter was being down from both the teams.
Watch: Forde sledges Jansen, Markram gives him back
In the 10th over of the first innings, Forde was seen calling "Yeah, yeah" after smoking the left-arm seamer for a maximum. In the reply, the South African captain, Aiden Markram, signalled the batter to go back to his crease using a gesture with his index finger.
The game saw some furious sledging battles, with the South Africans giving a mouthful to the opposition batters in the initial phases, but the Windies gave them a perfect reply with a comeback partnership in the fag-end.
Although Matthew Forde’s brief knock came to an end in the subsequent over on 11 runs off the bowling of Corbin Bosch. Just like the other Windies batters, the bowling all-rounder went down attacking as he became the seventh man to depart during the collapse.
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Having said that, Jason Holder (49) and Romario Shepherd (52*) revived the innings to perfection with a classic redemption, setting up a respectable total.
At the end of the innings, West Indies reached a brilliant total of 176/8 after being reduced to 83/7 in the 11th over, thanks to the legendary eight-wicket between of 89 runs. Interestingly, the partnership between Holder and Shepherd was the highest for the given wicket in the history of T20I cricket.
Rabada-Ngidi sink West Indies ship
In the highly anticipated clash, the pace bowling pair of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi swiped through the opposition’s top and middle order.
The out-of-sorts KG had two big wickets of Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer in his first over of the afternoon. Meanwhile, Ngidi took three scalps in his first two overs.
Additionally, Corbin Bosch was on his aggressive best and took two wickets in his early burst.
SA playing for the Indian dream
As the situation has panned out in Group 1, Team India is hoping for a South Africa win in this Super 8 clash against the West Indies. A victory for the Proteas will make the India versus West Indies game a direct shoot-off for the semifinal, considering the defending champions will win their next game against Zimbabwe.
India are scheduled to be at loggerheads with the Chevrons later on Thursday in Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, which is going to be a must-win game for the Suryakumar-led Men in Blue.
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