India vs South Africa, 2nd T20I: Batters Blaze As India Pull Of Tough Win And Elusive Series Victory

When so many runs are scored, naturally the bowling looks pedestrian. But with just one match to go before India seal off their engagements before the T20 World Cup, the bowling coach will still be scratching his head.

IND vs SA 2nd T20I Match Analysis: The second T20 International of the India-South Africa series had everything needed for a blockbuster thriller. There was the threat of rain, the scare of snakes, light issues and some insane hitting from both sides. After over 400 runs, one century, three half-centuries, one 49 not out and an amazing 25 sixes, India finally emerged winners as they staved off a surreal charge from David Miller and Quinton de Kock to win by 16 runs after scoring a massive 237 in their effort. It was another display of some sensational batting from Miller, Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli and some important runs from KL Rahul and De Kock before India finally sealed off their first-ever T20I series win over South Africa at home.

When so many runs are scored, naturally the bowling looks pedestrian. But with just one match to go before India seal off their engagements before the T20 World Cup, the bowling coach will still be scratching his head.

Some of his wards look positively pedestrian. Sure, all will suffer in a high-scoring match, but some of the bowlers had redeeming features, while the others simply were blown away.

Arshdeep Singh started well and then was carted around for 15.5 runs an over. Wonder how the bowling goes at the nets, since the left-arm seamer was guilty of not just overstepping on several occasions, but also for being guilty of not being able to control runs off the free-hit.

Axar Patel too began well, as he has done frequently off late, but the late assault did not spare him either.

Harshal Patel is beginning to look frayed at the edges, and the World Cup hasn’t even begun. He doesn’t take wickets too frequently and his attempts to restrict the scoring are also not too successful. Surely a worry with so much uncertainty surrounding the Indian fast-bowling combination in Australia.
Ravichandran Ashwin seems to have pushed himself into a strange place, and not looking to convincing. It could well be that he is trying out new things, but none of them worked for him on Sunday, for sure.

Ironically, Deepak Chahar, the ‘stand-bye’ in this XI, had the best figures. But then, he largely escaping the murderous assault that Miller and De Kock essayed in the latter stages of the South African knock.

The batters were a happy lot though, but skipper Rohit Sharma too is looking a little wobbly up the order. Since he will surely go to Australia, the top-order batting will be a concern, in spite of KL Rahul beginning to get some runs.

No such worries for Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli. What a rollicking combination these two have begun to form. What an irony that were nose to nose in an aggressive pose, not too long ago.

But all that is passe and India would love to see both batters stay in this form through the World Cup. And also for Rahul to just stay.
Dinesh Karthik has made this last-over batting into an art and between him and Hardik Pandya, India could have some fearsome finishes. So much so that Rishabh Pant has been pushed decisively down the order!

A series won, but this is just a whistle stop in the journey to Australia. India will still have to find some quick solutions, but quite disturbingly, some answers are simply not coming.