Centurion: After a six-wicket loss to South Africa in the second Twenty20 International match, India skipper Virat Kohli praised the hosts, saying they took calculated risks which helped them.
South Africa rode on some powerful batting by Heinrich Klaasen and Jean-Paul Duminy to defeat India at the SuperSport Park.
“South Africa took calculated risks, credit to them. 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,” Kohli said.
Kohli also said the game was a difficult one for his bowlers.
“It was a tough one for the bowlers. We were looking at 175 with the loss of early wickets. Manish (Pandey) and (Suresh) Raina batted well and then Manish and MS (Dhoni) got us to 190 (188/4). I thought it was a winning total,” he said.
“Then the weather made it hard for the bowlers. Till the 12th over it was fine, but the drizzle made it bad,” he added.
Chasing a formidable target of 189 runs, the hosts romped home with eight balls to spare. The three-match series is now locked at 1-1.
“Klaasie got us ahead of the game,” said Duminy.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, who only got his international debut after Quinton de Kock was injured during the second of six one-day internationals, was moved up the batting order when it seemed possible rain would cause the match to be decided on a Duckworth/Lewis/Stern calculation.
“We weren’t sure whether we would be coming off,” said Duminy. “In the end it worked in our favour.”
Klaasen, who was man of the match when South Africa gained their only win in the one-day series, opened his score with two sixes and didn’t look back.
Duminy played an anchor role before finishing the match with two sixes in an innings of 64 not out off 40 balls.
India paid the penalty for a lack of bowling options. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal struggled to control the wet ball and was hit for 64 runs in four overs. Pandey made his career-best 79 not out off 48 balls while Dhoni thrashed his 52 off 28 balls.
Pandey came to the wicket after a rare failure by Kohli, who was caught behind for one off fast bowler Junior Dala.
— Agencies
Scorecard
Second Twenty20 international at SuperSport Park
India
R. Sharma lbw b Dala 0
S. Dhawan c Behardien b Duminy 24
S. Raina lbw b Phehlukwayo 30
V. Kohli c Klaasen b Dala 1
M. Pandey not out 79
MS. Dhoni not out 52
Extras (lb1, w1) 2
Total (4 wkts, 20 overs) 188
Did not bat: H. Pandya, B. Kumar, S. Thakur, J. Unadkat, Y. Chahal
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-44, 3-45), 4-90
Bowling: Morris 4-1-42-0, Dala 4-1-28-2, Paterson 4-0-51-0, Duminy 2-0-13-1, Shamsi 2-0-24-0, Phehlukwayo 2-0-15-1, Smuts 2-0-15-0
South Africa
R. Hendricks c Pandya b Thakur 26
J. Smuts c Raina b Unadkat 2
J. Duminy not out 64
H. Klaasen c Dhoni b Unadkat 69
D. Miller c Thakur b Pandya 5
F. Behardien not out 16
Extras (lb2, w5) 7
Total (4 wkts, 18.4 overs) 189
Did not bat: A. Phehlukwayo, C. Morris, D. Paterson, J. Dala, T. Shamsi
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-38, 3-131, 4-141
Bowling: Kumar 3-0-19-0, Thakur 4-0-31-1, Unadkat 3.4-0-42-2, Pandya 4-0-31-1, Chahal 4-0-64-0
