A low scoring thriller, not a thriller perhaps but yeah, it was a great game of Cricket for all the fans around the globe. South Africa levels the series (1-1) with an amazing victory. Stubbs and Coetzee helped their team from getting humiliated in a low scoring run chase. It was a low scoring pitch as predicted in our last blog, but surprisingly it supported the spinners more than the pacers. There was little or no spin from the pitch but the slower balls were looking effective. Krugger and his slower balls would have got some help from the pitch but he wasn't playing the match.
TOSS & CHANGES IN THE 11: Markram won the toss again and choose to bowl again, correct decision by him.The pitch was on a slower side and it was looking overcast which also provided some help for the pacers early on. There was no change in the team from the Indian side but the host got 1 change i.e Hendricks comes in for Krugger.
India didn't start well and lost the wicket of Sanju in the 1st over. India were 15 for 3 at the end of the 4th over. Axar and Hardik manages to get India towards the respectable team total. What India did wrong was the trying to attack from the 1st ball itself, the pitch was not even 180 and we were trying to get 200+ on this surface. Historically, the highest score on this pitch was 179, so India should have started their innings cautiously which would have resulted in 10-20 runs extra. At least after the wicket of Surya, Tilak and Axar were expected to play sensibly and spending some time on the crease. Playing 1 dimension cricket always haunt you in tough conditions. 140-150 is what I was expecting on this pitch.
In the second innings South Africa started of well but it was Varun Chakravarthy's Mystery bowling who made the difference. What a phenomenal spell it was from the Indian spinner. He got 5 for 17 in his 4 over quota, with an economy rate of just 4.25. No answers for his googlies from the South Africa's batters, Varun got 4 of his wickets from googlies. He got Klassen out a couple of time in this series. Everything was looking good for India until the 17th over. The trick India missed here was axar bowled only 1 over, the story would have been different if he would have bowled atleast 2 or 3 overs. Is Axar playing only because of his batting ability? He can and he has bowled some great spell in the future, I don't know why isn't he getting much overs to ball. He would have certainly made the difference in the match. Expecting more overs from him in the upcoming matches.
In the end, we lost the match by 3 wickets and a over to spare. Great performance from them, especially from Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee. It was their match to lose but both of them pulled it of in style. Series is levelled up with 1-1 with 2 matches to spare, this makes this series even more interesting to watch. The 3rd T20i is on 13th November in Centurion.
The surface of the SuperSports Park for the T20i encounter is expected to generate pace and bounce. Spinners can get help from the pitch in the 2nd innings. However, it is belter of a batting track and batting first team must target at least 180. I would prefer India to chase the target, however batting first would not be an bad option either. 259 target was chased by South Africa against West Indies in this pitch, so expecting similar kind of match on 13th. The only change I want in Indian team is Avesh to be replaced by either Ramandeep or Yash Dayal. Avesh Khan has the worst Economy among the Indian bowlers in the death overs.
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Hope to see those changes in the team.
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