English
Ranchi: It was easy-peasy for India at Ranchi on Sunday during the second ODI as they cruised to a seven-wicket win to keep the series alive. Following the win, India’s captain thanked his South African counterpart, Keshav Maharaj, in a cheeky manner. Dhawan had predicted that the dew would come into play at the toss when Maharaj opted to bat first. At the post-match presentation, Murali Kartik said: “Shikhar, you wanted to do something different and it worked perfectly well for you at the toss.”
To this, Shikhar responded: “Worked perfectly well for us, thanks to Keshav that he chose to bat. Glad that dew came in at the right time.”
And after that, Kartik and Shikhar broke into a chuckle.
After a late fightback from India on a slow, low pitch meant South Africa were restricted to posting 278/7 in 50 overs despite Aiden Markram and Reeza Hendricks making 79 and 74 respectively, Iyer and Kishan shared a match-winning stand of 161 off 155 balls for the third wicket.
The duo thwarted every challenge in their way, as South Africa were hampered by dew and inability to put a lid on the scoring rate, to square the three-match series 1-1 through their respective career-best knocks.
Chasing a challenging 279, India lost openers Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill in the first ten overs. While Dhawan saw his off-stump uprooted by Wayne Parnell for the second time in as many matches, Gill — with his impressive flicks, and drives — failed to keep the loft down and gave Kagiso Rabada a chance to take a sharp catch off his own bowling.
Brief scores: South Africa 278/7 in 50 overs (Aiden Markram 79, Reeza Hendricks 74; Mohammed Siraj 3-38, Shardul Thakur 1-36) lost to India 282/3 in 45.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 113 not out, Ishan Kishan 93; Wayne Parnell 1-44, Bjorn Fortuin 1-52) by seven wickets
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