At Gqeberha’s St George’s Park, South Africa put on a brilliant bowling display against India in the second Twenty20 International, limiting them to 124 after asking them to bat first. The Indian hitters had a hard time hitting boundaries, as every bowler save Keshav Maharaj took a wicket. None of the bowlers for the Proteas let up more than seven runs per over. India’s top scorer, Hardik Pandya, had an undefeated 39 off 45.
Even though Varun Chakaravarthy took five wickets for 17 runs, causing South Africa to struggle in the chase, Tristan Stubbs held firm and received some vital support from Gerald Coetzee (19 off 9) in the latter stages of the chase. Stubbs’ undefeated 47 off 41 helped the home team win the match by three wickets with one over left.
Following the match, South Africa’s captain, Aiden Markram, praised the bowlers and praised players like Stubbs and Coetzee, calling for a fierce batting effort when chasing.
“I thought we bowled really well; our bowlers did a great job, and we had some really good plans.” It didn’t go as planned today, but from a batting perspective, you want to break the back of the pursuit at the halfway point. It might be unappealing when you lose wickets in quick succession. After the match, Markram stated, “We must accept it and we will undoubtedly continue to play our style of cricket.”
It’s good to see Stubbs and Coetzee returning after a sabbatical. Naturally, I’m quite proud of the enormous contribution that Nqabayomzi Peter and Andile Simelane played with the ball. The younger boys were an inspiration to the older ones. We must focus on one game at a time. We are thrilled that we leveled the series with this victory,” he continued.
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With two games left, the four-match T20I series is tied at one after the victory. The third Twenty20 International will take place at Centurion’s SuperSport Park on November 13.
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