IND Vs SA 2nd T2oI review- Team India faced successive defeats in the 5-match T20 international series against South Africa. India, currently led by Rishabh Pant lost the toss again and the away side decided to send India to bat first at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha. After losing the first game in the series India was under pressure in this game to turn things around but a terrible batting display on a tricky pitch saw India post just 148 on the board with Shreyas Iyer top scorer with 40.

India started defending the small total brilliantly courtesy of an outstanding spell from Bhuvneshwar Kumar who picked up 3 wickets in the powerplay overs to push South Africa to the back foot. Since then it was the Heinrich Klaasen show in the middle as the wicketkeeper batter delivered his best T20 performance for his country smashing a match-winning 81 from 46 balls.

With this victory, the Proteas go 2-0 up in the series and are in a commanding position. India has to produce something very special in the next three matches to overcome the brilliant South African side.

Let’s look at the talking points from this game –

Another failure for Ruturaj Gaikwad

The 25-year-old opener came into the limelight in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings last year when he won the orange cap in the tournament. With openers like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan rested and KL Rahul out for injury, Ruturaj got a breakthrough into the Indian team as an opener but he has not been able to capitalise on the chances. He got out after scoring just 1 in this match.

India’s Middle-order failure

It was an off day for Indian batters, especially for Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, both went back to the pavilion scoring single-digit numbers. There were questions on Pant being chosen as skipper of the national side and it seems like it is affecting them like a burden which is reflecting on his batting. In this match, Pant threw his wicket away once again when he needed to show more maturity to build a partnership with well-settled Shreyas Iyer.

Bhuvi tried to swing the match in India’s favour

The veteran pacer did all he could do i.e. picking up wickets. Bhuvneshwar started creating pressure from the first ball and picked up 3 wickets in the powerplay. He came back to bowl his last over but the match was almost over but he still picked up another to finish his spell with 4/13.

The Heinrich Klaasen show

Klaasen came into the side as a replacement for Quinton De Kock and what a change it turned out to be. In a pitch where almost all batters struggled, Klaasen did hold his patience to start his innings slowly. But once he got settled there was no way back for the Indian team in the match. Klaasen dominated the bowlers and scored 81 off 46 which includes 7 fours and 5 massive sixes.