In the second ODI of the India tour of South Africa, the hosts beat the visitors by seven wickets. Staggering performances from Quinton De Kock (78) and Janneman Malan (91) helped the Proteas to gain an unbeatable lead of 2-0. South Africa clinched the three-match series by winning the first two fixtures.
South Africa lost the toss and was put to bat by the Indians. A disciplined bowling effort from the home team managed to restrict India to a defendable target of 288. South Africa didn’t seem to face any problem chasing a target close to 300 on a tricky pitch. The openers were fluent against the Indian pace attack in the powerplay. Quinton De Kock and Jannneman Malan were scoring at a healthy run rate, the former attacked India’s bowling unit while the latter played the supporting role. The opener pair stitched a partnership of 132 within 21 overs. The counter-attacking partnership was broken when De Kock was hit on his pads right in front of the stumps on Shardul Thakur’s delivery. Malan continued his steady innings and departed when his team was in a comfortable position to win also when he was just nine runs short of his century. Healthy contributions from Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Russie van der Dussen helped the Proteas to cross the finish line without any difficulty.
KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Thakur were the clinical performers with the bat for the tourists. Vital contributions from the three batsmen helped India to put up a defendable score.
Tabraiz Shamsi pocketed two wickets while Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Markram and Sisanda Magala had one scalp each.
On the other end, for the Indians, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Thakur gathered one wicket each.
De Kock was adjudged the Man of the Match for his scintillating 78 off 66 balls with seven boundaries and three maximums.