Watch cricket video highlights of India tour of South Africa 2024. Second Twenty/20 between South Africa and India. Venue of the match will be Gqeberha.
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At St George’s Park, Tristan Stubbs batted South Africa to a series-leveling victory over India, continuing his maturing season. Stubbs stopped India’s 11-match winning streak in T20Is by saving South Africa from 66 for 6 and joining Gerald Coetzee in a 42-run partnership off 20 balls. Stubbs has hit his maiden Test and ODI hundreds in the last month, and while his 47* in Gqeberha won’t be remembered as a turning point, it was a mature effort that helped a struggling South African team. South Africa has only won one of their six games since making it to the T20 World Cup final in June.
When they pulled together a full-bodied effort in the field and held India to 124, they showed signs of coming back, but they seemed to lack a certain structure to their game. Before the spinners put on a pressure and everyone but Keshav Maharaj were among the wickets, the fast bowlers set the tone up front. Crucially, they eliminated India’s top three players early on, allowing their middle-order to catch up for a total of eight runs. The only time India’s scoring pace exceeded six runs per over was during a 37-run partnership between Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh for the seventh wicket.
South Africa may have assumed the victory would be effortless given the goal, but they had to earn it. They were devastated by Varun Chakravarthy’s maiden international five-for, and Aiden Markam’s subpar play is still a worry. His most recent T20I half-century came 26 innings ago. India’s spinners kept South Africa quiet, and as wickets dropped, the needed run-rate increased till they needed 40 runs from the final five overs. Coetzee displayed his batting ability, Stubbs maintained composure, and South Africa reached the finish line with one over remaining.
Although Coetzee was placed on a 12-week fitness hiatus to improve his bowling, it appears that he has given his batting just as much thought. Coetzee entered the game at St George’s Park with everything on the line after losing by an 11-ball 23 at Kingsmead. South Africa needed 39 runs in 26 balls after being 86 for 7. All he needed for a sighting was a single, and he missed it. To release the pressure, he hit Arshdeep Singh’s full delivery, the second ball he faced, over long-off. South Africa needed 25 runs from 18 balls after Stubbs’ spectacular drive around the covers concluded the 17th over.
With consecutive boundaries from Avesh Khan, who made a length error, Coetzee reduced that to 17 off 16 balls. South Africa needed 13 runs from the final 12 balls to tie the series after scoring 12 runs off the 18th over. South Africa claims to have improved their batting against spin, but when players like Varun enter the picture, that doesn’t appear to be the case. He made India’s small total seem much larger than it actually was by setting a career-best in Gqeberha after setting one in Durban. Markram, who was having trouble with form, failed to pick his second ball, which was a slow googly.
Markram bowled after slogging and missing. In the following over, Reeza Hendricks was hit by the same pitch. Varun was bowled after being foxed by the incorrect guy after Hendricks had just hit him for four. After that, he switched sides and became just as dangerous. Marco Jansen struggled to defeat the Googly in his third over, but Varun virtually put an end to South Africa’s chances in the last over. When Heinrich Klaasen attempted to take him on, he was only able to locate long-off. Varun then bowled David Miller to earn his five-for.
After hitting consecutive hundreds in his previous two games, Sanju Samson was bowled off the third delivery of the innings for a duck, demonstrating how cricket has a way of bringing people to their knees. Samson moved too early to give himself space, and if he had stayed in line, he could have been in a better position to keep the ball out. Jansen’s delivery was outstanding, getting it to seam and then swing. South Africa had established the tone with a scoreless opening over from Jansen.
Coetzee and umpire Lubabalo Gcume believed Abhishek Sharma had gloved him down the leg side four balls later, but an instant review showed that was not the case. When Abhishek top-edged Coetzee to Jansen at short fine, Coetzee had the last laugh. However, Andile Simelane, who had gone wicketless in his Durban debut, got his maiden international wicket by hammering in a yorker to Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav during the powerplay. Suryakumar did not even bother to review after being smacked on the pad and beaten for pace as he attempted to flip it away.
After the powerplay, India rallied from 15 for 3 after four overs to 34 for 3. Markram was blasted toward cover by Tilak Varma. Miller turned to his right, stretched aloft, and snatched the ball out of the Gqeberha as it flew towards him. Tilak stood gaping and looked incredulously at Miller. The eyes of the viewers in the stands were as big as saucers. The commentators found it difficult to express themselves. The general reaction when India fell to 45 for 4 was “Oh, my, word.”
At the end of his second over, Hardik drove the ball to legspinner Nqaba Peter, who responded swiftly as South Africa remained alert in the field. Axar Patel was run out when the ball bounced into the non-striker’s stumps, giving Peter a touch. As South Africa stifled India’s chances to score runs, Hardik scored 19 runs off the first 29 balls he faced and only hit the boundary off the 28th. India went 35 deliveries without hitting a boundary and scored 24 runs in five overs during the hard-hitting middle overs.
Hardik finally found his rhythm in the eighteenth over. After Jansen’s first two overs cost just five runs, he was called back on, and Hardik hit them for four right away through the covers. He wrapped up the over with a ramp shot off a short ball for India’s most lucrative over after getting beneath a broader delivery two balls later and hitting it over extra cover for six.
