South Africa vs India 2018, 2nd T20I: Hits and Misses

After winning the first T20I game of the three match series against South Africa at Johannesburg, India arrived at the SuperSport Park in Centurion aiming to clinch the series in style. With the D/L method aiding the team batting second, JP Duminy won the toss and elected to field first, keeping in mind the predictions of rain during the second half of the game.

India faced a rare top-order failure after Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were all dismissed early and just when one was wondering if the middle order could come to the party, Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni chipped in with unbeaten half-centuries to lead the team to a challenging target of 188 for 4 in their 20 overs.

However, some big-hitting by the Proteas and some inaccurate bowling by the Indians, South Africa romped home to an easy win, chasing down the target with six wickets and eight balls to spare.

Here are the hits and the misses from the game.

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#1 MS Dhoni – Hit

It is not easy being MS Dhoni in a country like India, where every failure is magnified and dissected for days on end. With the former skipper being in the news during the tour more for his pearls of advice that were caught on the stump mic than for his batting, the opportunity was ripe for Dhoni to come to the party after India’s top three had returned back to the hut early.

He came out to bat in the eleventh over of the innings, and as usual took time settling in. He broke the shackles with a powerful six against left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts. Over the course of the innings, he was at his mightiest best – punishing the bowlers at will and punching the slower deliveries for maximums.

He put on a 98-run partnership with Pandey in 56 deliveries and Dhoni ended on 52 in 28, with four boundaries and three sixes – all scored at a strike-rate of 185.71.

#2 Rohit Sharma – Miss

Rohit Sharma, who had come into the tour at the back of a phenomenal year, has struggled to get going in the Rainbow Nation. He had a paltry ODI series and even though he had gotten off to a blazing start in the first T20I game, he failed to notch up a big score.

Much then was expected from the Mumbaikar in this game but his time in the middle ended even before it began. The very first ball that he faced in the innings seamed in sharply into the right-hander. The good length ball off Junior Dala skidded in with the help of the moisture on offer and the batsman was unable to get his bat down in time. The ball struck him plumb in front of the leg and middle stump and Rohit did not even bother reviewing as he rued another missed chance.

#3 Heinrich Klaasen – Hit

Heinrich Klaasen, who shot to overnight fame after his heroics with the bat in the company of David Miller in the Pink ODI, scriped in yet another memorable performance, this time at his home ground.

Coming in to bat with the scorecard reading 38 for two in the fifth over, Klaasen started off on an aggressive note, hitting three sixes upfront. Once he got the company and the confidence of Duminy, he unfurled his real fury, picking up 35 in 11 deliveries at one stage. He got his 50 in just 22 deliveries and was instrumental in taking the score to 131 in just 13.1 overs. His knock laid the foundation for an easy chase for the home side.

#4 Yuzvendra Chahal – Miss

Cricket, they say, turns out to be the greatest leveller. On some days, a player can emerge as the toast of the nation courtesy some memorable performances and on the others, the very same player can be thrashed around as he can only look around helplessly.

Yuzvendra Chahal, who has been Kohli’s and India’s go-to bowler in crunch situations throughout the tour, was a clueless bowler at Centurion. The moisture on offer and the slight drizzle during the game did not help either as he went for 64 runs in his four overs without picking up a single wicket, at an economy of 16!

He was thrashed around for seven sixes by the South Africans and could never get his momentum going.

#5 JP Duminy – Hit

Not only did Duminy take a brave step as a captain to field first, despite the cynical remarks that greeted him, Duminy took charge of the batting reins as well – something that has hardly been witnessed in the limited overs tour thus far.

When Klaasen was going bonkers, he played the role of an anchor to perfection and when the former was dismissed by Jaydev Unadkat, he took on the role of an aggressor along with Farhaan Behardien.

He smashed 64 in 40 deliveries, with four fours and three sixes and his twin strikes in the end took South Africa home with ease.