Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav was proud of the way his bowlers bowled despite a three-wicket loss against South Africa in the second T20I at St George’s Park, Gqeberha on Sunday. After being asked to bat first, India could only manage 124 runs on the board as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Hardik Pandya top-scored with 39 runs but could not get support from the other end and had to farm the strike in the last couple of overs.
However, the Indian bowlers kept the pressure on the home team with Arshdeep Singh striking early, removing Ryan Rickelton. Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers as he registered his maiden five-wicket haul in T20Is. The mystery spinner returned with impressive figures of 5-17 and he was right on the money in his four-over quota.
In the end, Tristan Stubbs scored a match-winning knock of unbeaten 47 whereas Gerald Coetzee scored a fine cameo of 9-ball 19 to get the Proteas over the line.
Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation, “You always have to back whatever total you get. Of course, in a T20 game you don’t want to get 125 or 140 but I’m proud of the way our boys bowled.”
SKY showered praise on Chakravarthy for his brilliant spell. Chakravarthy accounted for Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendrick, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, and David Miller.
The Indian captain continued, “In a T20 game someone getting a 5-fer defending 125 and in this situation, it’s incredible. He worked really hard on his game and he has been waiting for this stage, and everyone enjoyed it. Brilliant performance from him. Two games to go, a lot of entertainment left and it will be fun at Jo’burg.”
The third T20I of the series between India and South Africa will be played at the SuperSport Park, Centurion on Wednesday.
