David Miller’s blazing century against South Africa in the second Twenty20 International at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday was in vain as Indian bowlers maintained composure to win the match by 16 runs and secure a 2-0 victory. With the victory, Team India jumped out to a 2-0 lead over South Africa. Miller made an undefeated 106 in 47 balls for South Africa, and Quinton de Kock scored an unbeaten 69 off 48. Arshdeep Singh took two wickets for India, but Axar Patel was content with just one. Arshdeep Singh of India, who was defending the mark of 238 runs, hindered South Africa’s chase by taking Temba Bavuma and Rilee Rossouw out in the same over.
Then, to relieve some of the burden on the squad, Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock played some cautious strokes while taking singles. Then, Axar Patel dealt Proteas a severe blow when he struck out experienced hitter Markram for 33 off 19 balls. Three crucial wickets were lost by South Africa in less than eight overs.
David Miller was invited to the crease after Markram’s dismissal. Miller and de Kock regularly took singles while securing quick boundaries. South Africa’s score after 10 innings of play was 70-3. Miller changed gears under intense strain and blasted Ravichandran Ashwin for back-to-back two sixes, scoring 19 runs alone in the innings’ 12th over. Miller reached his 50th ball in 25 balls with a stunning six off Arshdeep while destroying Indian bowlers all over the field. De Kock changed up his approach and hit back-to-back sixes for 18 runs in Axar’s over. South Africa needed 95 runs in 30 balls after 15 overs. Miller blasted Harshal for two consecutive fours in the 16th over of the game, scoring 13 runs.
In 39 balls, Quinton De Kock also reached his half-century. Quinton put forth a valiant effort, anchoring a crucially important strong relationship with Miller. De Kock launched a spectacular six to begin the match’s 18th over, but he was limited in his options since Harshal bowled the spell with excellent line and length and prevented Proteas hitters from scoring runs in his over. De Kock and Miller’s partnership pounded Arshdeep for 26 runs in the innings’ 19th over by hitting huge shots. Miller scored a quick century in just 46 balls in the final over of the game. Miller hit a tremendous six on the final ball of the game, but his team fell short of the finish line by 16 runs in the arduous run chase. In the big run chase, the explosive Proteas pair were unable to bring their team home, giving India the victory.
India, who had been given the opportunity to bat first, established a frightening total of 237/3 thanks to spectacular half-centuries from KL Rahul and Suraykumar Yadav. Rahul played a knock of 57 off 28 while Suraykumar hammered 61 runs in 22 balls. Virat Kohli scored an unbroken 49 runs off 28 balls, appearing to be in excellent form. KL Rahul continued where he left off in the previous game and caressed a well-timed boundary on Kagiso Rabada’s first pitch of the innings to give India the early lead with four runs. The Indian innings began to pick up steam when the captain of the team assisted himself with two boundaries in the following over delivered by Wayne Parnell. In the following over, Sharma glided down the track to bowler Lungi Ngidi to smack the opening six of the innings. As the Indian openers combined to hit six and two boundaries in the over, scoring 15 runs, Parnell returned for his second over of the game but was completely destroyed. The Indian pair didn’t appear to be in the mood to unwind as they made good most of the fielding constraints by occasionally hitting boundaries.
India scored 57 runs at the end of the powerplay without losing a wicket. KL Rahul finished with 25 (11), and Rohit Sharma made 29 (25) from the first six overs. Before the Indian skipper was bowled by Keshav Maharaj in the tenth over of the inning, both opening batters kept up the attack, tearing apart the South African bowlers and putting together a 96-run partnership. After completing half of the allotted overs, India sat at 96/1 with KL Rahul scoring 48 off just 22 deliveries and Virat Kohli still waiting to make his debut after only facing one delivery. Here is the Brief Score: India 237/3 (Surayakumar Yadav 61, KL Rahul 57; Keshav Maharaj 2-23) beat South Africa 221/3 (David Miller 106, Quinton de Kock 69; Arshdeep Singh 2-62) by 16 runs.
