Ind vs SA, 2nd T20I Highlights: South Africa crush India, win by 51 runs to level series 1-1

It has been a poor show overall from the Indian unit. First, the bowlers failed to impress and then the batters. South Africa won by 51 runs.

It may have come far too late to tilt the match, but Jitesh Sharma certainly added some sparkle to India’s chase. His lively 27 off 17 balls featured smart improvisation, including a cheeky scoop for six over fine leg that lit up the crowd. His knock ended in the 18th over when a leading edge popped tamely to short third. IND need 56 runs off 12 balls.

Baartman starts the over and three runs come off the first three deliveries. The entire over went economical. Required rate has reached 15 runs per over. A lot is needed for India at this point. IND 94/4 (12)

No big runs have come in the last two overs. Sipamla comes in for this one. Slow start to the over. Required rate goes up. Tilak Varma his a long one on the second last delivery. Some relief there. IND need 133 runs off 60 balls.

South Africa are squeezing every drop of assistance from the new ball and India are feeling the heat early. After Lungi Ngidi’s Test-match dismissal of Shubman Gill, Marco Jansen produced an absolute peach in the very next over. The kind that deserves its own slow-motion replay.

Angling in and straightening wickedly over middle stump, Jansen’s delivery squared up Abhishek Sharma, who loves giving himself room on the leg side. This time, that habit proved costly. Forced into a defensive jab, he found the outside edge, and the keeper did the rest. A huge breakthrough for South Africa, considering Abhishek had already launched two sixes and looked in dangerous touch. IND 25/2 (3)

Abhishek Sharma starts well. Hits sixer to Ngidi on the third delivery. But the pacer gets a wicket. He sends back Shubman Gill on golden duck. Axar Patel walks in. IND 9/1 (1)

Bumrah comes in for the las over. Ferreira hits a sixer on the second delivery. Then a double and again a sixer. The bowling conditions are difficult for the bowlers tonight. Still a good target of 214 comes up.

Ferreira starts with a big sixer on Arshdeep’s first bowl. Two overs to go from here. It has been difficult for bowlers tonight. Arshdeep throws in a wide. 20 extras have come in this game so far. And he throws another wide ball. Usually Arshdeep’s line and length are on point but not tonight. He is way off the radar in this one. SA 195/4 (19)

Three overs to go now. Bumrah comes in to bowl this one. Miller and Ferreira on the crease. Miller hits a boundary on the second bowl. The next one is a leg-bye and that goes to the ropes too. Next one, they go for a double. Follows it up with another boundary. Itwas a full toss sent to the ropes. slow bouncer to end the over. SA 179/4 (18)

Axar Patel comes in to bat. It was an arm ball on a length, angling in from leg. Brevis backed away, looking to drag it square, but the bat face opened up badly on contact, sending the ball skimming low toward long-on. Tilak sprinted in, got both hands under it just inches above the turf and completed the catch with the back of his palm grazing the ground.

A sharp piece of fielding. Good opportunity here for India to tighten the screws. Just 4 runs and a wicket from this over. SA 164/4 (17)

Jitesh Sharma, take a bow! What looked like a routine check upstairs turned into a moment of pure wicketkeeping wizardry. The under-edge from de Kock’s cut shot popped over Jitesh’s left shoulder, and in a split-second scramble, he reached out instinctively with his left hand, then snatched it cleanly with his right. In one smooth motion, he swung around and whipped off the bails – all in a single fluid sequence.

Quinton de Kock, cruising on 90 and looking unstoppable, had no idea that brilliance was about to intervene. India finally break through, and it comes courtesy of Jitesh’s magic hands. By the way, Varun was on the bowling end. SA 160/3 (16)

The bowlers are still looking for a solve in terms of Quinton de Kock. The batter is in fine form tonight and no one, not one bowler, has been able to keep him quiet. QDK is playing at 90 (45) right now. SA 156/2 (15)

Markram and QDK were slamming Indian bowlers in all directions. The Men in Blue are trying to find a solution for these two. Will Varun bring in another wicket? Markram starts his over with a sixer. Followed by another! Oh Markram. What shots! But the ace spinner turns the table at the end. Markram goes for another big one but this time ball lands in the hands Axar Patel. That’s another one for Varun. SA 121/2 (12)

QDK started Arshdeep’s over with a sixer and right there, he has put ample pressure on the pacer. Four wides have since been bowled in this over. And comes the fifth wide. And another. The bar on the screen showing the over now covers the entire bottom area. Three legal deliveries bowled so far. And there is the 7th wide. 18 runs come from this over. SA 108/1 (11)

Quinton de Kock storms to a 26-ball half-century. That’s a statement knock from the seasoned opener. The South African dugout rises, applauding a master at work. Proteas stay strong in the game after half their innings is over. SA 90/1 (10)

Quinton de Kock has launched into this innings with authority. Two towering sixes and a crisp four. All carved off Arshdeep Singh’s first over. Whenever he erred too short or drifted too straight. The play has set the tone early. He races to 34 off 18 by the end of the powerplay. Looking every bit a batter who’s found his groove and walked in with clear, fearless intent to go big. He faces Pandya and hit for a boundary on the fourth delivery. SA 61/1 (7)

Varun arrives — and instantly, Varun delivers. No one targets the stumps with his precision. A 92 kph googly that didn’t bother to turn, just skidded straight off a length. Pitched on off, shattered middle and leg. Hendricks swung, but it was a hopeless pull against fate.

Varun wasn’t done either. He squeezed the pressure through the rest of the over, giving just three runs. A masterful spell from the mystery spinner, doing what he does best: creating chaos with calm. SA 41/1 (5)

Tonight, South Africa return to a familiar pairing at the top: Reeza Hendricks alongside Quinton de Kock. The opening combination has been a revolving door in recent weeks — Aiden Markram took first strike in his last T20I series against England, but with the captain rested intermittently, the lineup lost some clarity.

Hendricks missed the series opener in Cuttack, where Markram stepped up to open. Now Hendricks is not just back, but back at the top. It’s a musical chairs situation South Africa can’t afford for much longer. With the World Cup fast approaching, settling on a stable opening duo is no longer just a preference — it’s a priority. A strong six comes off from QDK’s bat. SA 8/0 (1)

South African captain Aiden Markram said at toss, “We’d have fielded. Looks a good wicket. Not a lot of intls here but hope to get a good score and put them under pressure. We have to make peace with the fact that we can have nights like the first game, hope to make a better effort today. We’ll get feedback on scores after a few overs, not thought of it now.”

South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Aiden Markram (capt), 4 Dewald Brevis, 5 David Miller, 6 Donovon Ferreira, 7 George Linde, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Lutho Sipamla, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Ottneil Baartman

India playing XI: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

SKY and Markram are on the pitch for toss. And India win the toss and Surya has opted to bowl first. “There was dew during the warm-up itself. This has always been a wonderful ground in franchise cricket, women’s game too. It’s really important for boys to understand their responsibility and team demand. 175 was above par and bowlers did their job nicely. Hardik provides amazing balance, he handles pressure well, his overs are important,” SKY said at the toss. No changes in the playing XI for India.

India’s commanding all-round show in Cuttack gave them a confident 1-0 start to the series. On a pitch where timing felt optional, Hardik Pandya rose above the conditions, stitching together a forceful innings that powered India to a competitive total. The bowlers then took over, snuffing out South Africa’s chase with clinical precision.

Now, the spotlight shifts to New Chandigarh, where Mullanpur is set to host its maiden men’s international match. South Africa’s bowlers fought hard in the opener but their batting never quite arrived. If they hope to keep the series alive, they’ll need a far stronger reply. A reply that matches the magnitude of the moment.

The Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, delivered a full range of drama during this year’s IPL. From explosive 200-plus totals to tense, low-scoring cliffhangers, with plenty of middling scores in between. After being jolted by Cuttack’s unexpected pitch behaviour in the series opener, India and South Africa walk into Thursday’s clash with Mullanpur offering its own share of uncertainty.

The conditions could tilt either way and both teams will arrive prepared for anything.

South Africa Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Reeza Hendricks, Corbin Bosch, George Linde, Tony de Zorzi, Ottneil Baartman, Kwena Maphaka

India Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma(w), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav said, “With 7-8 batters, there will be days when 2-3 batters won’t have their day, but then the other 4 batters will cover it up and they did cover it up today. Maybe in the next game you’ll see someone else covering it up. That’s how T20 cricket goes, and that’s how we want everyone to play. We want everyone to be fearless and enjoy their batting.”

Aiden Markram said, “Nowadays in T20 cricket, there’s not much time to look around and absorb… We’ll have brief conversations tomorrow. You don’t want to dive too deep into things like this. You almost just want to draw a line through it and stick to the positive ways of this format.”

Though the series opener ended in India’s favour, some questions linger. While teams experiment with combinations and test new strategies, some concerns are hard to ignore.

For India, Hardik Pandya’s return with a powerful knock offers a boost and the depth in the batting lineup seems justified. But Suryakumar Yadav’s struggles continue to worry. Another quiet outing in Cuttack adds to a troubling trend. He has averaged just 15.07 in 16 T20Is this year, with a strike rate that does little to inspire confidence.

All eyes tonight will be on whether Suryakumar can rediscover his form. His revival could be the key to India turning their plans into performance.

The chase in Cuttack got off to a thrilling start as the first over set the tone for the night. Arshdeep Singh, exploiting every hint of movement, struck early by dismissing the dangerous Quinton de Kock. Their T20 head-to-head has been firmly in Arshdeep’s favour—41 balls, 38 runs, and five wickets. Expect fireworks when this battle resumes and South Africa might even let Aiden Markram take the first strike to protect their key batter.

The match is set to get underway at 7 pm while the toss will take place at 6.30 pm.

Jasprit Bumrah has entered an elite league as only the fifth cricketer to claim 100 wickets across all three international formats. He joins the ranks of Shakib Al Hasan, Lasith Malinga, Tim Southee and Shaheen Shah Afridi.