Gqeberha (South Africa): Hosts South Africa took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20 series after defeating India by five wickets via DLS in a rain-curtailed second game here late Tuesday night.
Put into bat, India rode on blistering half-centuries by skipper Surya Kumar Yadav and Rinku Singh to post 180/7 in 19.3 overs when rain halted play. After a brief break due to the rain, South Africa were set a revised target of 152 in 15 overs and the hosts romped home with five wickets in hand and seven balls to space.
The chief architect of South Africa's win was opener Reeza Hendricks, who slammed a quickfire 49 off just 27 balls, with eight boundaries and a maximum. He added 42 runs for the first wicket with fellow opener Matthew Breetze (16) to lay the foundation stone of the win. Hendricks then found an able ally in Aiden Markram (30 off 17 balls), who played his role to perfection. Markram smashed four fours and six as South Africa was racing towards the targets.
However, India made a comeback of sorts by picking three quick wickets as South Africa slipped to 108 for 4 with Markram, Hendricks and Heinrich Klaasen back in the pavilion.
But a gritty 17 by David Miller along with an unbeaten 14 by Tristan Stubbs helped South Africa take the game deep. Miller perished in the 13th over, but till then the damage had been done.
Southpaw Andile Phehlukyawo (10 not out) finished the game in style with a towering six off left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. For India, Mukesh Kumar (2 for 34) was the pick of the bowlers.
Earlier, India rode on belligerent half-centuries by Rinku Singh and skipper Surya Kumar Yadav to post a challenging 180/7 in 19.3 overs before rain stopped play. Rinku was the cynosure of eyes at St George's Park as he took a formidable South African attack to task with his power-hitting.
The southpaw, who remained unbeaten on 68 off just 39 balls, hit nine boundaries and two maximums to ensure that the bowlers had a decent score to defend. India lost both the openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) and Shubman Gill (0) cheaply after which skipper Surya (56 off 36 balls) anchored the innings. He slammed five boundaries and three sixes as he was in his element and conjured yet another half-century.
After Surya fell in the 14th over, Rinku took the onus on himself and single-handedly ensured that the team crossed the 175-run mark, but his effort went in vain. Tabraiz Shamsi, who returned with fine figures of 1 for 18, was adjudged as the Player of the Match.
India skipper Surya Kumar Yadav conceded that South Africa took the game away from his side in the first six overs. "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," Surya said at the post-match presentation. The third T20 is set to be played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Thursday.
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