The second T20I game between South Africa and India in Gqeberha ended with South Africa winning by five wickets. With this win, the hosts have an unassailable lead of 1-0 with only one game left to play. Suryakumar Yadav and his team will have a big task on their hands in the final game.
The first T20I was washed out due to rain, and rain also affected the second game. South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. India lost both openers for a duck, and it was a horrible start. But the skipper, along with Tilak Varma (29 off 20), added 49 runs for the third wicket.
It was followed by a crucial fourth-wicket stand between SKY and Rinku Singh of 70 runs. Both batters scored fifty each. SKY also completed his 2000 T20I runs in 56 innings and equaled Virat Kohli with this record. He is the joint-fastest to reach this milestone and is behind Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam with 52 innings each.
SKY made 56 off 36 balls, with five fours and three sixes in his inning. With this, he also achieved a special record. It was the 17th T20I fifty for the No. 1 ranked batter and the first on South African soil. With this, he became the first Indian captain to score a T20I fifty and went past MS Dhoni to register the highest T20I score by an Indian captain in South Africa.
Rinku scored an unbeaten 68 and registered his maiden T20I half-century. India managed 180/7 in 19.3 overs. South Africa got a revised target of 152 in 15 overs and got off to a flying start. Reeza Hendricks (49 off 27) and skipper Aiden Markram (30 off 17) gave them a flying start.
In the end, small contributions from a number of batters helped the Proteas reach 154/5 in 13.5 overs and register a five-wicket win. Now, both teams will square off in the third and final game on Thursday at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
