India 6-152 (Suresh Raina 45, Rohit Sharma 25, Robin Peterson 2-25) beat South Africa 151 (Faf du Plessis 65, Jean-Paul-Duminy 16, Zaheer Khan 3-22) by one run.

India won the second pool match vs. South Africa by a close margin but was unable to reach the semi final of the ICC World Twenty20 due to poor run rate.

India piled up 152 runs after losing six wickets in the metered 20 overs and South Africa managed 151 runs before their innings was rolled back.

Yuvraj Singh (India) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his all round performance.

The most important match for India was played against South Africa in the ICC World Twenty20 on Tuesday, October 2, 2012, at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Earlier, Pakistan beat Australia by 32 runs in their last pool game. The Blue Shirts needed to win against the Proteas with a minimum margin of 31 runs to reach the semi finals otherwise, the Men in Green would do that.

AB de Villiers, the skipper of South Africa, won the toss and invited India to bat first. The Men in Blue initiated the innings with Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag in a commanding way by scoring 22 runs in the first three overs. Gambhir was clean bowled by Morne Morkel on the second ball of the next over for eight runs.

India lost another two wickets in a matter of two overs as their batsman in-form, Virat Kohli was gone for two runs followed by Virender Sehwag who lost his wicket after scoring 17. Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh took their side out of danger with a positive partnership. Yuvraj was the most attacking of the two and hit a couple of sixes in the next two overs as Sharma secured his wicket.

The fourth wicket partnership took the score to 68 when the stumps of Yuvraj Singh were uprooted by Morne Morkel for 21 off 15 balls with 2 huge sixes and 1 four. Suresh Raina associated with Sharma next as the latter was dropped at 13 by Johan Botha at long on off Morne Morkel. The duo speeded up the run rate, the score board started moving fast, they gathered 10 runs in the 12^th over and added another 13 two overs later. The next wicket fell at 112 runs as Rohit Sharma was declared lbw off Robin Peterson for 25.

The poor ground fielding of the Proteas continued as Raina was dropped by Farhaan Bahardien at Deep Square for 36 runs. Suresh Raina ran himself out on the last ball of the innings for 45 off 34 with 5 fours. MS Dhoni remained unbeaten for 23 off 13 with 3 fours as India thrashed 152 runs with four wickets in hand.

Morne Morkel and Robin Peterson were the most impressive bowlers with two wickets each as Jacques Kallis held one.

South Africa had a dreadful start as they lost their prominent opener, Hashim Amla on the second ball when he was smartly caught by Virender Sehwag off Zaheer Khan for a duck. AB de Villiers got together with Jacques Kallis but they found it hard to score the runs freely. The Proteas faced another shock when Kallis was caught by Rohit Sharma at midwicket off Irfan Pathan for just six runs. The Blue Shirts bowlers looked in command after taking two top order wickets of the rivals at just 16 runs in 3.3 overs.

Faf du Plessis moved in the centre next, joined with his captain and picked up the run rate instantly. Du Plessis hit 11 runs in the fifth over with one six followed by 14 in the next over with a couple of fours. The party did not last long as AB de Villiers became the next victim when he was clean bowled by Yuvraj Singh on the first ball of the seventh over for 13 runs. The third wicket was lost at 46 as Jean-Paul Duminy appeared in the park and the fifty of the innings was attained in the same over.

Rohit Sharma was introduced by Dhoni in the eight over and du Plessis added another 12 runs with a six. He achieved his maiden T20 fifty on the fourth ball of the 11^th over with a boundary on just 29 balls with 2 sixes and 2 fours. Duminy kept on changing the strike to du Plessis who scored another nine runs in the 12^th over with two sixes. Faf du Plessis was finally caught at long off by off Yuvraj Singh for 65 off 38 mere balls with 2 grand sixes and 6 well timed fours as the score reached 95 in 12.4 overs.

Duminy kept his cool as Farhaan Behardien joined in with him and the hundred of the innings appeared on board in the 14^th over. The first tried to accelerate the scoring rate but was caught by Gautam Gambhir off Lakshmipathy Balaji for 16 runs.

Pakistan reached the semi finals of the ICC World Twenty20 2012 when Robin Peterson took a single on the fifth ball of the 17^th over and the score reached 122.

Meanwhile, the South Africans kept on cruising as their wickets kept on sliding at regular intervals. They required 14 runs off the last six deliveries as Albie Morkel dispatched a six on the first ball but lost his wicket on the next ball. Morne Morkel hit a six on the fifth ball, he was clean bowled by Balaji on the very next delivery and the Proteas were bowled out for 151 runs.

Zaheer Khan and Lakshmipathy Balaji were the main wicket takers with three wickets each, Yuvraj Singh got two wickets whereas Irfan Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed one wicket each.

India won the exciting encounter by a narrow margin of just one run but was deprived of the semi finals due to their low run rate.