Follow UsFollowing a washout in the first T20I in Durban, the rain gods, for a good while, threatened to pull the plug on the second T20I at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Tuesday but the weather held up and, eventually, South Africa registered a comprehensive 5-wicket victory to go 1-0 up in the three-match T20I series.
Inserted into bat, India managed to post 180 in their 20 overs but the Proteas got to the revised DLS target of 152 with 5 wickets and 7 balls to spare.
Despite slipping to defeat, however, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav, at the post-match presentation, said that he was pleased with his side’s performance. Suryakumar, in particular, expressed that he was proud about the way the batters went about their business, batting fearlessly despite losing both openers for a duck.
“That's the brand of cricket we were talking about. The message was loud and clear,” Suryakumar said of India’s recovery with the bat, where they counter-attacked and got to 180 despite being reduced to 6/2 in the first 2 overs.
Suryakumar said that he felt 180 was ‘par’ on the surface but admitted that wet conditions in the second innings made it incredibly difficult for his bowlers to defend the target.
“It was tough with the wet ball, but we would face similar situations in the future. So it's a good learning for us,” the Indian skipper said.
South Africa skipper Aiden Markram alluded to the fact that batting got easier as the game went on.
“I thought the wicket was initially on the slower side. From the batting point of view, it skid on a bit. The rain helped us a little bit,” Markram said.
South Africa killed the chase inside the first 7 overs, amassing a staggering 87 runs, and most of the damage was done by Reeza Hendricks, who smashed 49 off just 27 balls. Astonishingly, the knock was Hendricks’ 10th 40+ score in his last 12 T20I knocks.
Markram was full of praise for the right-hander, and made it clear that there are still many places up for grabs with the T20 World Cup in sight.
“He (Reeza) has been fantastic, super happy for him, he has adopted a bit of a leadership role with the batting. Another brilliant knock from him tonight,” Markram said.
“You gotta pick form players going into the world cup. There might still be a couple of places up for grabs. Every player is working hard and giving his best. The healthy competition means a lot for us.”
The third and the final T20I of the series will be played at the New Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday, December 14th.