Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team suffered a five-wicket loss at the hands of Aiden Markram's South Africa in the second T20I as the Proteas chased down a revised 152-run target in Gqeberha. The hosts were asked to chase 152 runs in 15 overs in the rain-curtailed match and led by the likes of Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram, they gunned down the score in 13.5 overs.
It was a tough outing for the Indian bowlers, who were taken to the cleaners and found it challenging to bowl well under batting-friendly conditions in the second innings. India's interim T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has reflected on the loss to the Proteas, stating that the hosts batted beautifully in the run-chase.
"At the halfway stage, I thought it was a par score but they batted beautifully in the first 5-6 overs and took the game away from us. It was the brand of cricket we were talking about, just go out and express ourselves. It was tough with the wet ball, but we would face similar situations in the future and it's a good learning for us. Looking forward to the third T20I," Suryakumar Yadav said after the loss in the second T20I.
The Proteas batters shared the workload of the target with Reeza Hendricks and Matthew Breetzke providing a blistering start before Aiden Markram joined hands with Hendricks and derailed India's hopes to defend the target. Three quick wickets in the middle phase of the innings spiced things a bit but the required rate assured the Proteas were always ahead of the the Indians. Andile Phehlukwayo finished things off with a six as the hosts sealed the first game with 7 balls and 5 wickets to spare.
South Africa's Playing XI:
Matthew Breetzke, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi
India's Playing XI:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
