South Africa vs India, 2nd T20I – Who Said What

The second T20 International between India and South Africa was a must-win encounter for the home side and they stepped up to the plate when it was much-needed. Once again it took a special effort from Heinrich Klaasen for the hosts to win the game. His arrival changed things dramatically for the team in Green and also caught India off the guard who were ruling the game by then. However, the series goes into the decider now as the gruelling tour of India winds up where it all started in Cape Town.

After being invited to bat first, India lost wickets at regular intervals and were left reeling at 90/4 at the half-way mark despite cameos from Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan. But it was the partnership between MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey which got the ball rolling for them. They resurrected the innings first and then launched a brutal assault on an inexperienced bowling attack. They added an unbeaten 98 runs for the fifth wicket and slammed half-centuries for the team.

While Pandey scored 79, it was the special knock from Dhoni which helped him notch up his second fifty-plus score. But India needed a good bowling effort with the rain threatening to stop the game constantly.

The chase started badly for South Africa but the way Klaasen batted, especially against Yuzvendra Chahal turned the tables on the visitors. He was well supported by the skipper JP Duminy who played second fiddle when Klaasen was going all guns blazing. But once his wicket was fallen, the skipper took the control of the game and fittingly finished it for the team and levelled the series. While Klaasen scored a breezy 69 off 30 balls, Duminy remained unbeaten on 64 off 40 deliveries.

Chahal registered the worst figures for an Indian bowler in the T20 Internationals as Klaasen got the better of him not for the first time on this tour. The decider will be more exciting now as both the teams would look to end on a high.

South African captain JP Duminy said:

At the toss we spoke about this being a semi-final and taking the series to Newlands. We kept our composure with the bat after taking early wickets. I just thought the way Klaasen came and played with freedom – we kept up with the rate. It was raining pretty similarly in our innings as well but I was comfortable when we were ahead of the rate.

[The maiden first over] really set the tone. They came at us but the key for us was taking the wickets and we got three up front. To chase down 189 is a pretty good effort. It’ll be nice to play in front of him home crowd [in the next match] and hopefully we put up a spectacle there.

Man of the Match Heinrich Klaasen said:

It’s really special, at my home ground – it was something I dreamt of as a kid. [About his various sweeps] Not a wicketkeeper thing, you just gotta put the bowler under pressure and show them your skills. I’ve got a cool, calm head at the moment and I’m pleased with my cricket over the last year and a half.

Indian captain Virat Kohli said:

It was a tough one for the bowlers. We were looking at 175 with the loss of early wickets. Manish and Raina batted well and then Manish and MS got us to 190. I thought it was a winning total. Then the weather made it hard for the bowlers. Till the 12th over it was fine but the drizzle made it bad.

South Africa took calculated risks, credit to them. [About the conditions] We didn’t really have problems with the conditions, it was a constant drizzle, was fine to play. We expect them to show a fight and show some heart and they deserved to win tonight.