Klaasen and Duminy outclass India
South Africa finally made chasing in a white-ball game against India look straight forward when they reached their target of 189 with eight balls and six wickets to spare at Centurion. They got there thanks to a brilliant innings of 64 (40) from stand in captain, JP Duminy, and a breathtaking knock of 69 (30) from Heinrich Klaasen.
A career-best 79 not out from Manish Pandey and a second T20 international fifty for MS Dhoni saw India post an imposing 188/4 from their 20 overs in the second T20I of this three-match series, and at the half way stage they would have been feeling very confident of wrapping up the series with a match to spare. Klaasen and Duminy made sure that wasn’t the case with a stand of 93 that completely dominated the Indian attack.
Klaasen fell before the job was finished, and it could have led to South Africa stumbling when he went with 57 runs still required, but Duminy took up the reins and was there at the end to finish the game with back to back sixes as South Africa won with more than an over to spare.
South Africa started well with the ball having won the toss and put India in to bat. A maiden from Chris Morris at the start of the PowerPlay and a wicket maiden from Junior Dala at the end of the first six overs meant that India were 45/3 as the fielding restrictions were lifted.
With Rohit Sharma gone first ball, Shikhar Dhawan dismissed by a full toss from JP Duminy and Virat Kohli falling victim to Dala for just a single there was real pressure on Pandey to come good. He rose to the occasion brilliantly as he played a supporting role to Suresh Raina before turning into the leading man when he lost his partner.
At the other end Dhoni bided his time, as he so often does. With four overs to go Dhoni was on 18 from 15 deliveries. When the Indian innings was over he had reached 52 from 28 balls. The final over of the innings saw him take 17 runs off the bowling of Morris who finished with 0/42 from his four overs despite bowling a maiden.
The Pandey/Dhoni partnership was worth an impressive 98* as they helped their team recover from an indifferent start to reach a very decent total.
In the end, it was not enough as the partnership between Klaasen and Duminy got the run rate under control and allowed South Africa to ease their way to the target with relative ease.
The rain was falling throughout which made things hard work for the bowlers, and the man that suffered the most was Yuzvendra Chahal. Having been so dominate over the South Africans in the ODI series the wrist-spinner had a tough night. He recorded the worst ever figures by an Indian bowler in a T20 International – 0/64 from his four overs.
Klaasen was brutal on anything that was dropped in short as he blasted seven sixes and three fours in an innings that came at a strike rate of 230. It was the wicket-keeper that broke the back of the chase, but it was captain Duminy that got his team over the line.
