India are yet to win a match in the five-match T20 series against South Africa. After losing the first T20, the home team couldn’t avoid the defeat in the 2nd match as well. South Africa beat India yesterday at the Barabati Stadium by 4 wickets. Protea batter Heinrich Klaasen won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant batting. In addition, South Africa took a two-game lead in the series. They just need to win only one of the remaining three matches to seal the series.
Match Report
Temba Bavuma, the skipper of South Africa, won the toss at the Barabati Stadium and decided to bowl first. So Rituraj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan came off the pitch to start the innings for India. Unfortunately, the day wasn’t lucky enough for them. South Africa hit in the very first over as pacer Kagiso Rabada picked up the wicket of Rituraj Gaikwad in the first over.
After that, Ishan Kishan tried to build a basement with the new batter, Shreyas Iyer. They were careful on the pitch. Together they added 45 runs for the team. Unfortunately, their partnership broke in the 7th over as Ishan Kishan lost the wicket to Anrich Nortje. Before the departure, Ishan Kishan scored 34 off 21 balls. Shreyas Iyer, the other batsman, fought very hard. Although the following batters couldn’t stay longer on the pitch, Iyer added the highest 40 runs for the team. However, Dinesh Kartik added another 30 runs for India at the lower order. Relying on these runs, India scored 148 for 6-wickets in 20 overs.
Chasing the low target, South Africa lost their first wicket in the first over, like India. Opener Reeza Hendricks had to go back to the pavilion as Bhuveneshwar Kumar picked up the wicket. India put South Africa under tremendous pressure as they got three wickets early. The Proteas went three wickets down in six overs.
But in the middle order, Heinrich Klaasen played like a trump card for the Proteas. He was very aggressive since he came off the pitch. He played a destroying innings to chase the target. In 46 balls, Klaasen picked up 81 runs, which earned a thrilling victory against India. As a result, South Africa won the match by 5 wickets against the home team.