South Africa coach Mark Boucher hails Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher termed India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar's performance in the series as "special" while ruing the absence of Aiden Markram, who he feels could have made a lot of difference for the Proteas over the course of the five T20Is.

Bhuvneshwar, who now only plays white-ball cricket, got six wickets in four completed games and gave away only 85 runs in 14 overs at an economy rate which was just a shade above six runs per over.

"Bhuvi was special in this whole series as we came up against some quality bowling. He put us under pressure in Powerplays and barring one game [Delhi], where we got off to a good start, they have dominated us with both ball and bat in Powerplays," Boucher said after the series ended in 2-2 despite Proteas going 2-0 up at the onset.

However, losing Markram due to Covid-19 at the start of the series had a huge impact. "It was tough losing Aiden Markram even before we started the first game. We wanted to play six batters with Aiden being our sixth option and we couldn't do that," Boucher added.

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50% refund after rain washes out India-SA decider

The Karnataka State Cricket Association announced that a 50 per cent refund will be provided for ticket holders after persistent rain forced the abandonment of the series decider T20I between South Africa and India on Sunday.

"As per terms and conditions, even if a single ball is bowled, there shall be no question of refund. However, the KSCA have decided to refund 50 per cent of the amounts for all the paid tickets," a KSCA official said.

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