India went down to South Africa by four wickets in the Cuttack T20I on Sunday. India is 0-2 in the series, while Twitter has been dissatisfied with the same.
So far, it has not been an ideal outing for Team India against South Africa in the five-match Twenty20 International (T20I). The hosts succumbed to a four-wicket defeat to the visitors in the second T20I, played at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Thursday. As a result, the Men in Blue are currently down 0-2 in the series, with the Proteas firmly in the driver's seat, as the former risks losing the series in the next game. Heinrich Klaasen's classy knock of 81 played a pivotal role in the same, leaving the Indian Twitteratis dissatisfied.
Winning the toss, South African skipper Temba Bavuma opted to bowl on a slow and moist-looking track with the overcast conditions. Although India lost Ruturaj Gaikwad (1) in the opening over to pacer Kagiso Rabada, with three runs on the board. However, fellow opener Ishan Kishan (34) and Shreyas Iyer (40) added 45 for the second wicket, allowing the side to recover from the early setback.
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In the seventh, Kishan fell to pacer Anrich Nortje and was down to 68/3 by the tenth. Iyer and Hardik Pandya (9) put on 28 for the fourth wicket before the latter was knocked over by pacer Wayne Parnell in the 13th, followed by the former eight runs later in the following over, at 98/5, by pacer Dwayne Pretorius. While it struggled at 112/6 by the 17th, Dinesh Karthik (30*) and Harshal Patel (12*) added 36 more, as India finished on 148/6.
For Proteas, Nortje bagged a couple, while Rabada was heavily economical. In reply, it was off to a troubled start, losing three for 29 by the sixth over of the powerplay. However, opener Bavuma (35) and Klaasen (81) added 64 for the fourth wicket to bring SA back into the chase.
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In the 13th, Chahal knocked off the skipper. However, it hardly made a difference as Klassen continued his onslaught, slamming his third T20I half-century. At the same time, he and David Miller (20*) added 51 for the fifth wicket, allowing the Proteas to be firmly within the chase. The former fell to pacer Harshal in the 17th, at 144/5.
But it was a matter of time, as SA got the job done by four wickets, with ten balls to spare. For the Indians, seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was spot on, claiming four wickets and also turned out to be drastically economical.
Brief scores: IND 148/6 (Kishan- 34, Iyer- 40, Karthik- 30*; Nortje- 2/36) lost to SA 149/6 in 18.2 overs (Bavuma- 35, Klaasen- 81; Bhuvneshwar- 4/13) by four wickets.
