Yuzvendra Chahal Created Two Very Embarrassing Records In The Second T20I

After the rain-hit Wanderers ODI, Klaasen once again was the hero in a weather-affected match when his 69 off 30 balls gave South Africa a six-wicket win in the second Twenty20 global against India last night. To the Indians’ relief, the damage is “nothing serious”, as the management puts it.

Rohit Sharma is making a bad habit of going missing in crunch games and the second T20I was a ideal example of the same.

Series situation – Thanks to the heroics of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan, India lead the three-match series 1-0. However, the arrival of Suresh Raina saw the momentum shift to the Indians’ favour as he and Dhawan started to play in an aggressive manner and dominated the South African pacers. “The ball was hard to grip too”, Kohli said.

India was in a dire need of someone to produce a mature innings from someone in the middle order. This means that Kohli has now not performed according to his supremely high levels in two successive matches in the “Rainbow Nation”. “Yes, we definitely want the batters to score the bulk of the runs, but sometimes, [there will be] some games where the tail needs to contribute more”.

The bowling combination is the other concern.

Pandey came to the wicket after a rare failure by Kohli, who was caught behind for one off fast bowler Junior Dala. Even so, it is a nature of day-night games at Supersport Park that the side batting second has an advantage, as Klaasen pointed out. They got it in the shape of Pandey and Dhoni. They wanted to bowl short, but it didn’t really work well for them.

India, who were 93 for three off 11.2, were bowled out for 133 – losing teir last five wickets for just nine runs. Jon-Jon Smuts has not come good yet despite his big-hitting prowess, while David Millers poor form has spilled over from the ODIs. But with Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India can take this risk. It’s highly unlikely that Patel would have conceded as many as 64 in four overs which Chahal did. India could also try out Kuldeep Yadav, the leading wicket-taker in the ODI series, in place of Chahal who has been expensive in both T20Is. While Pandey remained unbeaten on 79 off 48 balls, veteran Dhoni made 52 off 28 deliveries.

But, if Bumrah does prove to be fit, Unadkat will have to sit out, having given away 75 runs in the series so far at an economy of 9.78 with only the two wickets he picked in the second T20I to show for it. While the visitors reigned supreme in the opening game of the series, the Proteas stormed back in the must-win encounter in Centurion amidst the rain threat.

Despite all the talk of the Proteas’ depth being stretched to almost breaking point in the current series against India, it’s actually the senior players that continue to let the team down. He transformed into very good T20 bowler as well.