Proteas bounce back

Quinton de Kock set the tone with a 46-ball 90 as South Africa bounced back in the five-match T20 series with a 51-run win over India.

The Indian top order failed in the second consecutive match, as chasing a 214-run target, Shubman Gill went out for a golden duck, Abhishek Sharma fell after a couple of sixes and skipper Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for five.

The responsibility was handed over once again to Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel, but even the two seasoned all-rounders failed to tackle the pressure.

The Proteas pacers reduced India to 32/3 inside the powerplay, and the hosts struggled to keep up with the climbing required rate. Tilak Varma (62 off 34 balls) remained the only standout contributor for the Indian side. The Indian innings ended at 162, with the asking run-rate touching as high as 21-per-over.

The Proteas bowlers were spot on, with Ottneil Baartman returning 4/24, while Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Lutho Sipamla sharing two wickets each.

Earlier, the South African batters were on a rampage against the Indian bowlers, who were a little off-colour today. Despite winning the toss and opting to field first, the Indian bowlers conceded 16 extras from wides. Arshdeep Singh alone bowled nine, including seven in a single over. Varun Chakravarthy remained an exception by providing two major breakthroughs, but still the Proteas managed 213 on the board, a major improvement from their 74 all out in the first match.

Coming back from retirement, de Kock started the attack, hitting five boundaries and seven sixes. His amazing shots were enough to silence the full house of spectators. Mainly dealing in sixes in the middle, de Kock forced the Indian bowlers to come up with a new plan with every ball.

The opener was looking to reach his ton but was run out by wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma. Donovan Ferreira (30 off 16 balls) and David Miller (20 off 12 balls) did some damage, with the former hitting two sixes off Jasprit Bumrah in the last over.

Arshdeep, who had de Kock caught behind in the series opener, had one of his worst days and ended up conceding 54 off his four-over spell.