‘ Ab bilaterals bhi nahi jeetnge ye’ – Fans react as South Africa thrash India by five wickets in second T20I

Finally, after the first T20I match of the series was called off due to rain the fans were eagerly waiting for a clash of both these stalwarts of World Cricket. The second T20I match certainly lived up to the expectation of all fans and it was South Africa who scripted a magnificent five wickets win in a rain curtailed match. With the win the Proteas go 1-0 up in the series.

In the game, it was South African skipper Aiden Markram who won the toss and elected to bowl first. The Indian team did not have the best of starts as they lost both their openers inside the first two overs. But then it was skipper Suryakumar Yadav (56) and Tilak Varma (29) who stitched in a brilliant 55 runs partnership. As the Indian team were looking to up the scoring rate, Tilak fell against the run-off play.

After the blistering start, the new star of Indian batting, Rinku Singh took a full toll on the South African bowling. Both the batters played calculated innings and stitched a brilliant partnership of 70 runs. As so often in the innings, skipper Surya also fell trying to up the scoring rate. Some wickets kept on tumbling around him but Rinku held one end firmly. It was courtesy of his brilliant knock of 68 runs off just 39 runs which helped India post 180 runs before rain came down pouring. This was also the maiden half-century from Rinku in International cricket.

South Africa chased down the target with six balls to spare

Chasing a revised target of 152 runs off 15 overs, South Africa came out all guns blazing. Unlike the Indian opening pair, the South African opening pair had a brilliant start to their innings. Both the openers Reeza Hendricks (49) and Mattew Breetzke (16) made the most of the batting powerplay. But unfortunately, later was dismissed courtesy of a bizarre misunderstanding between both the openers.

With some intense power-hitting from South African batters, they scored 66 runs in the first five overs. It was visible that with the rain around and wet outfield, it became more and more difficult for the Indian bowlers to bowl. The Proteas batting lineup certainly smoked every ball out of the park that were in their hitting arch. Skipper Markram contributed with 30 runs and then later David Miller (17) pretty much sealed the deal for the host. But it was Tristan Stubbs (14) at the end who held his nerves along with Andile Phehlikwayo (10) to see the team cross the finishing line.

Let us look at how Twitter has reacted to this win from South Africa: