The sensational five-for by Varun Chakaravarthy was to no avail for India as the gutsy unbeaten knock of 47 by Tristan Stubbs pushed the visitors to a three-wicket win in the second T20I played on Sunday at St George's Park.
After India were restricted to 124/6, with Hardik Pandya top-scoring with a scratchy unbeaten 39, Chakaravarthy shifted the balance in his side's favour by taking 5-17, his career-best figures in T20Is. But Stubbs timed his acceleration to perfection and hit seven boundaries in his vital knock to give South Africa a thrilling win with an over to spare, as the hosts squared the four-match series 1-1.
That also came in handy for Stubbs when he found an able partner in Gerard Coetzee (19 not out off nine balls) to stitch a stand of 42 runs for the eighth wicket. What also came in handy for South Africa was the Indian pacers not being up to the mark, especially in the last three overs and skipper Suryakumar Yadav giving Axar Patel just one over with the ball.
Chasing 125, Ryan Rickleton and Reeza Hendricks hit two boundaries each, before the former heaved to deep backward square leg off a slower short ball from Arshdeep Singh and fell for 13. Chakaravarthy struck in his first over by castling Aiden Markram with a googly, before taking his second wicket by pulling his length back and outsmarting Hendricks with another googly.
For the second time in the match, Chakaravarthy repaid the faith his team put on him as he castled Marco Jansen straight through him in the 11th over. The big match-up between Heinrich Klaasen and Chakaravarthy went in favour of the leg-spinner as the batter picked out long-off to perfection.
It was followed by Chakaravarthy getting the ball to drift in and straighten past David Miller's outside edge to rattle the off-stump and complete his five-fer. In the wicket-taker's column, Ravi Bishnoi entered when his googly castled Andile Simelane.
He, despite Stubbs spending the whole day lolling around, never found the support from the other end till Gerard Coetzee arrived. Coetzee danced down the pitch to club Arshdeep for six, before the duo took a four each off Avesh Khan. Stubbs heaved and edged off Arshdeep for back-to-back fours, before flat-batting and pulling for consecutive boundaries to get a pleasing win for South Africa in front of a carnival-like atmosphere at Gqeberha.
South Africa's seamers got early support earlier on and capitalized on that to get wickets with more depending on bowling good and short lengths. The batting depth was a glaring absence, meaning India could never put South Africa under pressure. Some scintillating fielding backed the Proteas who bowled very well to keep the visitors quiet. But barring skipper Aiden Markram all the bowlers got into the wickets' column.
Pushed into batting first, India did not have a flying start as Sanju Samson, who scored consecutive tons, missed an inswing delivery from Marco Jansen and saw the top of leg-stump being rattled.
Abhishek Sharma, who has been in lean form, survived a caught behind review off Gerald Coetzee, before giving a big top-edge on the pull to short fine leg. India plunged into deep trouble in the fourth over when Suryakumar Yadav was trapped plumb lbw by a slow yorker from Andile Simelane.
Tilak Varma and Axar combined well to regain the momentum for India with three lusty fours to conclude the power-play at 34/3. However, the blossoming 30-run partnership was terminated when Tilak's late inside-out drive was taken by Miller, sticking out his right hand to complete a stunning one-handed catch.
Axar tried to stabilize the Indian innings with three boundaries before being run out for 27. Hardik middled a drive off leg-spinner Nqabayomzi Peter, but a deflection off his hands went back onto the stumps at the non-striker's end. By then, Axar was way outside the crease and was unfortunately run out.
With some tight bowling and Hardik and Rinku Singh not being able to find the desired timing, South Africa managed to check the run flow. The pressure finally got to Rinku as he went for a slog-sweep off Peter but gave a top-edge to short fine leg.
Finally, Hardik produced the right con, in his shots by whipping Coetzee to mid-wicket for four, before thumping Jansen through cover for four and six. Though Hardik took the innings to great heights, ending with a ramp over the keeper's head off Jansen to take India past 120, it was too little to give a great finishing flourish to the game. For that matter, India had played 19 dot balls in the last five overs.
Brief Scores :
India 124/6 (Hardik Pandya 39 not out, Axar Patel 27; Nqabayomzi Peter 1-20, Andile Simelane 1-20) v South Africa 138/7 (Tristan Stubbs 47 not out; Varun Chakaravarthy 5-17) by three wickets.
