India vs South Africa LIVE: Varun Chakravarthy’s five-wicket haul threw South Africa into disarray
India vs South Africa LIVE: Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller off consecutive balls to complete his five-wicket haul in a spell that threw South Africa into disarray despite chasing only 125. Chakravarthy was backed up well by the rest of the Indian bowlers and it put the visitors in the driver’s seat going into the death overs of the Proteas’ innings. …Read More
South Africa were on the money after captain Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl first and restricted India to a score of 124/6 in the second T20I in Gqeberha. India have since made a good start to defending the low target, with Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy striking in the powerplay and the latter striking in the eighth over as well.
Hardik Pandya earlier tried to get going after a slow start but could only finish unbeaten on Marco Jansen started with wicket-maiden and the Proteas went on to take three wickets in the powerplay, including that of India captain Suryakumar Yadav. India went on to lose half their side before reaching 75 by the time the 12th over came around.
Slight drizzles appeared just as Markram was announcing his decision at the toss but there has been no sign of rain since. Sanju Samson’s blistering form helped India make light work of South Africa in the first T20I despite this series being played at the latters’ home. However, that was held in Durban which hasn’t been kind to the Proteas in this format. The same can’t be said about St George’s Park in Gqeberha, where T20I cricket has been rare but South Africa have won more often than not whenever they play here.
This will be the fifth T20I to be played at this venue. South Africa had lost the first one in 2007 to the West Indies as part of the 2007 T20 World Cup. Since then, they have beaten New Zealand by 33 runs in 2012, Australia by 12 runs in 2020 and India by five wickets in 2023.
India’s opener Samson has hit a purple patch, to put it mildly, and that helped them paper over the fact that this is their first T20I tour outside of Asia since they won the T20 World Cup earlier this year. The win in Durban was India’s 11th consecutive one in the format, with their previous defeat in T20Is coming, quite stunningly, in neigbouring Zimbabwe right after the T20 World Cup final.
Overall, they have played 23 T20Is this year and won 22. More importantly, they seemed to have completely shaken off their tendency to play conservatively with the bat in the format. On the contrary, India seem to have completely moved to the other end of the spectrum. They have scored over 200 runs in each of their last three T20Is and this includes a record 297/6 in their third T20I against Bangladesh. In fact, the only occasion they didn’t score more than 200 in that series was in the first T20I, where they chased down a target of 129 in 11.5 overs.
This series is being seen as a bit of a grudge match up as it marks the first time that South Africa are facing India since they were quite stunningly beaten in the T20 World Cup final by the side. They hardly came close to avenging that loss in the first T20I and interestingly, the spinners stifling Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller proved to be the catalyst for India’s victory once again, as was the case in the death overs of the T20 World Cup final by the Indian pacers.
South Africa are without Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock, two key figures in that final. While Rabada has been rested, de Kock retired. They will be wary of the threat carried by almost all of the Indian top six, who have been firing on all cylinders in the months since they became world champions.
Apart from Samson, India will also be hoping that pacer Arshdeep Singh continues to give them good starts. Arshdeep’s early wickets in the powerplay has been integral to their winning streak. He has taken 33 wickets in 21 T20Is this year at an average of 18.12, with the best bowling figures of 4/37. just five wickets away from breaking pace veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s record of most wickets by an Indian bowler in T20Is during a single calendar year.
Highlights from India vs South Africa 2nd T20I:
– Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller off consecutive balls to complete his five-wicket haul
– India were restricted to 124/6 in 20 overs
– India went more than five overs without a boundary in the middle overs
– India went on to lose three wickets in the powerplay
– Sanju Samson fell for a duck as Marco Jansen started with a wicket-maiden for South Africa
– India made no changes to side that won the first T20I
– South Africa captain Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl first
– India lead the four-match series 1-0, having won the first T20I by 61 runs
– India are one win away from equalling their longest T20I winning streak
