Indian batsmen were at their best, with Suryakumar Yadav and opener KL Rahul leading the way as they beat South Africa by 16 runs, although David Miller was undefeated in the second T20I, who won Sunday’s three-match streak . (More cricket news)
Rahul (57 from 28) and Yadav (61 from 22) played the Proteas attack with sensational fifties as the Indian top 4 batters showed another superlative, posting a massive 237 for 3 – their highest score against South Africa .
That 178 runs came from borders – 25 fours and 13 sixes – showed the Indians’ dominance against the Kagiso Rabada-led South African attack, which looked mediocre throughout. Chasing a massive 238 goal, the South Africans managed to go 237 to 3 in their 20 overs, with David Miller not missing with 106 balls from 47.
It was India’s first consecutive win over South Africa in T20I format on home soil. India had won the first game by eight wickets on September 28th. The third and final game in the series is scheduled for October 4th in Indore.
Arshdeep Singh gave India a perfect start while defending 237, extending the Ducks’ run of South African skippers Temba Bavuma and Rilee Rossouw to two games. However, Arshdeep leaked runs in the death overs to return with numbers of 4-0-62-2.
South Africa were abandoned at a score of 1/2 within two overs and never recovered from there. At the other end, Deepak held Chahar (4-1-24-0) before R. Ashwin (4-0-37-0) played along to take the match with a tight bowling out of the Proteas’ reach.
The highlight of the South African innings was David Miller’s stunning return to form with his second T20I Century with an unbeaten 106 from 47. Quinton de Kock was also in runs again with a 48-ball 69 not out as the duo put together 174 runs from 84 balls, but it proved not enough.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma (43 balls from 37), who became the first Indian to play 400 T20 matches, all started before Rahul took off. In response to his critics, Rahul (57) was back at his aggressive best, slamming a 24-ball fifty, his second in a row, as he and Rohit hit 96 runs for the opening wicket, scoring just 59 balls.
Yadav then continued his insane 360-degree attack with a third consecutive half-century that yielded just 18 deliveries and India surpassed the 200 mark in the 18th. Virat Kohli backed him up perfectly, becoming the first Indian to hit 11,000 T20 runs during his 49 not-outs.
He played a selfless punch, giving designated finisher Dinesh Karthik the maximum punch. Karthik hit 17 nons from seven balls to cap a perfect batting performance for India. The South African pacers looked lackluster and rolled full, and the Indians feasted on them.
