On Sunday, November 10, South Africa defeated India in a low-scoring thriller by three wickets in the second T20I at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha, to level the four-match series at 1-1. After India posted just 124-run total on the board, Varun Chakravarthy picked up a five-wicket haul, to put them in a very good position before Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee shared an unbeaten stand of 42 runs in 20 balls for the eight wicket, to take the Proteas over the line for a series levelling victory.
After being put into bat first by South African captain Aiden Markram, India lost three of their top order batters inside the first four overs with the centurion of the previous match Sanju Samson not troubling the scorers. Tilak Varma and Axar Patel brought the Indian innings back on track with their respective 20s before Hardik Pandya played a measure innings of 39* off 45 balls, to take them up to below par total of 124/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
In the run chase, South Africa lost wickets at regular intervals with Varun Chakravarthy running through their middle overs, picking up a five-wicket haul for the first-time in his career. The spinner registered figures of 5/17 in his four-over spell, to reduce South Africa to 66/6 at one stage in the 13th over after picking up the big wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller on back-to-back deliveries.
But after the spells of Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi were done for, South African batters Tristan Stubbs (47* off 41) and Gerald Coetzee (19* off 9) took full toll against the Indian pacers. Their partnership of 42 runs in double quick time was more than enough for South Africa to chase down the 125-run target with one over to spare, to level the four-match series at 1-1.
The third T20I of the series will be played on Wednesday, November 13, at the SuperSport Park in Centurion before the final match happens two days later at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.