India lose to South Africa in low-scoring contest

The Indian men’s cricket team suffered a three-wicket loss to South Africa in the second of the four-match T20 2024 series played at St George's Park in Gqebera on Sunday.

India’s defeat levelled the series 1-1 after the world champions, led by a Sanju Samson century, had claimed a resounding 61-run win in the series opener on Friday. It also snapped India’s impressive 11-match winning streak.

India, the top-ranked T20I side in the world, lost regular wickets at the start and managed to put on 124/6 on the board in 20 overs.

South Africa, sixth in the T20I rankings, were strangled by Varun Chakravarthy’s 5/17 in the middle overs but chased down the target in 19 overs courtesy of an unbeaten 42-run partnership between Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee for the eighth wicket.

Put in to bat first after losing the toss, India were rocked early after Sanju Samson fell on a duck off the third ball. Abhishek Sharma and Indian T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav were also dismissed in single digits as the world champions were reduced to 15/3 in four overs.

Tilak Varma briefly steadied the ship with a run-a-ball 20 before being undone by a spectacular one-handed catch from David Miller at extra cover in the eighth over.

Axar Patel’s unfortunate run-out at the non-striker’s end, following a deflection off a straight drive from Hardik Pandya, reduced India to 70/5 in the 12th over.

With runs hard to come by, Rinku Singh also fell while attempting to accelerate, leaving India at 87/6 by the 15th over.

With India playing four specialist fast bowlers, Hardik Pandya tried to single-handedly take his team to a respectable total by keeping most of the strike in the final five overs.

Despite not losing further wickets, India added only 38 runs in the final five overs to finish on 124/6 in 20 overs. Hardik Pandya top-scored for India with an unbeaten 39 off 45 balls.

In reply, South Africa’s chase started well before Arshdeep Singh removed Ryan Rickelton in the third over to bring India back into the contest.

Introduced in the fifth over, Varun Chakravarthy then turned the match on its head with a stellar spell of 5/17.

Varun castled South African skipper Aiden Markram with a wrong one before knocking down the stumps of well-set opener Reza Hendricks (24) in the eighth over with a googly. Marco Jansen, promoted up the order, also had his stumps disturbed in the 11th over.

Varun then broke the back of the South African middle order with wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller in his final over on back-to-back deliveries. South Africa were reduced to 66/6 in the 13th over.

The wicket of Andile Simelane in the 16th over bowled by Ravi Bishnoi reduced South Africa to 86/7.

With 37 needed off the final four overs, the hosts had their backs against the wall. However, a quickfire 19 off 9 by Gerald Coetzee injected the much-needed momentum in the South African innings.

Tristan Stubbs started cautiously for South Africa but took 16 off Arshdeep Singh in the 19th over to secure the victory with six balls to spare. He was named the player of the match for his crucial 47 off 41 deliveries.

The third match of the India vs South Africa T20 series 2024 will be played at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday. The series will conclude at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday.

IND vs SA T20 2024 2nd match brief scores: India 124/6 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 39*; Nqabayomzi Peter 1/20) lose to South Africa 128/7 in 19 overs (Tristan Stubbs 47*; Varun Chakravarthy 5/17) by three wickets.

Click here to read article