2nd T20I: Embattled Proteas face a must-win situation against India

Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar took career-best figures of 5-24 to help India ease to a 28-run victory over South Africa in the opening Twenty20 worldwide of their three-game series at the Wanderers yesterday. Yet on Wednesday, in the 2 T20 between South Africa and India, it was Dhoni admonishing his on-field partner Manish Pandey after the latter appeared distracted.

“We weren’t sure whether we would be coming off”, said Duminy. India made their highest total (203/5), against Proteas, and it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first five-wicket haul in T20, that saw India cruise to victory in the first match. In his four overs, he gave away just 31 runs and picked up the wicket of openers Reeza Hendricks who was hitting boundaries for fun at one point.

“I felt if we were in that position, we were in a strong position, especially at a venue like this”. With the series hanging in the balance, India’s lack of experience in the stadium in the format could give Proteas an added advantage, in spite of their poor record.

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia, Nuzhat Parveen Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Rumeli Dhar.

At 3.15pm (local time) India were set a revised target of 148 in 15 overs. “We didn’t really have problems with the conditions, it was a constant drizzle, was fine to play”.

“We have managed the short ball pretty well on this tour”. Stand-in skipper JP Duminy was adamant that they had well-set plans for Indian batsmen and bowlers since the start of this series but just needed proper execution as was showcased at Supersport Park.

“(If) Something doesn’t work for you, you have to come up with something else (but SA couldn’t).

Despite enjoying a lot of success thus far, Klaasen reiterated that De Kock still remains South Africa’s go-to wicketkeeper-batsman. The wicket can be tough to predict, but the Newlands has normally been a good wicket for batting.

“We lost the first two Test matches and then we came back”.

It is evident that every player goes through periods when you have slumps, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a senior experienced player or a new guy. Prior to getting injured, the 25-year-old had struggled with the bat as he averaged 11.83 in the three-Test series and 27 in the two ODIs he played. “It’s been a dismal ODI series, and today as well”. New Zealand’s Martin Guptill leads the T20I batting chart with 2,271 runs while the Black Caps’ former skipper Brendon McCullum in second on the list with 2,140 runs.