At the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Thursday night, South Africa defeated India by 51 runs thanks to Quinton de Kock’s scorching 90 off 46 balls in the second Twenty20 International. After being invited to bat first, the visitors scored an enormous 213 for 4 and bowled India out for 162 in 19.1 overs to tie the four-match series at one.
After being dropped by Jitesh Sharma at number twelve, De Kock made India pay a heavy price with an incredible exhibition of clean hitting, smashing five fours and seven sixes at a strike-rate of 195.65. Following Reeza Hendricks’ early loss, he and captain Aiden Markram (29) scored 83 runs for the second wicket. South Africa passed 210 thanks to late cameos from Donovan Ferreira (30*) and David Miller (20*) in an uninterrupted 53-run partnership.
While spinners Varun Chakaravarthy (2-29) and Axar Patel (1-27) were the only ones to apply any brakes, India’s highly regarded speed combo of Jasprit Bumrah (0-45) and Arshdeep Singh (0-54) had a dismal evening, leaking runs at almost 11 per over.
Shubman Gill’s first-ball duck in response gave India an early shock. The hosts were down 32 for 3 after Abhishek Sharma (17) and Suryakumar Yadav (5) were killed in the powerplay. With a brilliant 62 off 34 balls (2 fours, 5 sixes), Tilak Varma launched a counterattack, but the opposition offered little assistance.The innings collapsed when Tilak was caught at long-on by Lungi Ngidi in the last over.
As India lost their final six wickets for just 44 runs, Ottneil Baartman (4-24) and Marco Jansen, Ngidi, and Lutho Sipamla (both 2 wickets each) ripped through the lower order.
Quick Scores:
India lost 162 all out in 19.1 overs (Tilak Varma 62, Jitesh Sharma 27; Ottneil Baartman 4-24, Marco Jansen 2-25, Lungi Ngidi 2-26, Lutho Sipamla 2-46) to South Africa 213/4 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 90, Aiden Markram 29, Donovan Ferreira 30*, David Miller 20*, and Varun Chakaravarthy 2-29).
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