Suryakumar Yadav and his Indian side came to Gqeberha to play the 2nd T20I on Sunday. Defending T20 World Cup winners found a new hero in the form of Varun Chakravarthy. The 33-year-old got his maiden fifer but the efforts went in vain as South Africa beat India by three wickets to level the 4-match series at 1-1.
The right-arm spinner bowled four overs and picked 5 for 17 to break the back of South Africa’s batting. The home team had to chase a mere 125 runs to win after India’s batting came unglued thanks to some terrific bowling by South Africa.
Hardik Pandya was the best batter for India as he scored an unbeaten 39 off 45 balls with four boundaries and a six. His only six off the innings had a bit of Caribbean flavor to leave the fans in complete shock. Barring Keshav Maharaj each of the South African bowlers picked a wicket each.
South Africa survive Varun Chakravarthy scare to win close game
Needing 125 to win the second game to level the series, South Africa began well. Ryan Rickelton and Aiden Markram added 22 runs in 2.5 overs to put the pressure on Indian bowlers. That stand was broken when Arshdeep Singh had Rickelton caught by Rinku Singh for 13 in the third over.
Varun Chakravarthy then castled skipper Aiden Markram for 3 runs. Reeza Hendricks batted well for his 24 runs before he too fell to India’s spin ace. The 33-year-old then got the wicket of Marco Jansen who was sent out to bat at number 5 for seven runs.
Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller then were out in successive balls to give the veteran spinner his maiden fifer. Ravi Bishnoi joined in the fun when he castled Andile Simelane for 7. Gerald Coetzee changed the game once more when he smashed Arshdeep Singh for a huge six that landed on top of the roof.
Gerald Coetzee then hit Avesh Khan for two boundaries off two balls to make it 15 runs needed from 15 balls. South Africa needed 13 runs from 12 balls as Suryakumar Yadav threw the ball to Arshdeep Singh to bowl the 19th over, Tristan Stubbs welcomed the left-arm pacer with two fours before hitting two more fours to close out the game in the final ball of the 19th over. The right-handed batter was not out on 47 off 41 balls with Gerald Coetzee scoring 19 off 8 balls to help level the series 1-1.