Riding on half-centuries from Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock, South Africa beat India by 7 wickets in the second One Day Internationals on Friday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in three-match series. Malan (91) missed his well-deserved century by 9 runs, while De Kock scored 78 runs as South Africa chased down the target of 288 with 11 balls to spare. It was a fourth back-to-back defeat for India on this tour.
India, who were touted as favourites ahead of the tour, have lost both Test and ODI series to young Proteas side who played some quality cricket in both formats.
Chasing the target of 288, South Africa were off to a perfect start with a solid 132-run stand between Malan and De Kock for the opening wicket. De Kock played a quality counter-attacking knock of 78 runs off 66 balls to put pressure on the Indian bowlers straightaway. His innings was laced with 7 fours and three sixes. He was dismissed by Shardul Thakur after DRS forced Marias Erasmus to change his decision as the replay showed De Kock plumb in front of the wicket.
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After the southpaw’s departure, Malan joined hands with skipper Temba Bavuma and shared an 80-run stand to take Proteas forward in the chase. However, South Africa lose both Malan and Bavuma in quick succession as India tried to fight back in the game. Jasprit Bumrah castled Malan to stop him from reaching a three-digit score, while Yuzvendra Chahal caught and bowled centurion from the last match Bavuma.
South Africa recovered from the two blows soon courtesy of Aiden Markram (37*) and Rassie van der Dussen (37*) who took the hosts to the victory line in 48.1 overs.
Veteran bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin remained wicketless on Friday, while Chahal, Bumrah and Shardul shared a wicket each. Interestingly, India used ‘the sixth bowler’ Venkatesh Iyer in the second match but he also failed to take a wicket in the 5 overs he bowled.
Earlier, wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant registered a career-best 85 off 71 balls as India managed to set up a 288-run target against South Africa.
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Pant and skipper KL Rahul (55 off 79 balls) had added 115 runs in less than 19 overs, especially the former taking the South African slow medium pacers and spinners to cleaners.
But their dismissals in quick succession saw Proteas make a comeback on a Boland Park strip where stroke-making wasn’t an easy proposition for a new batter.
Shardul Thakur (40 not out off 38 balls) once again used the long handle well in the company of Ravichandran Ashwin (25 not out off 24 balls) to pull India to a competitive target but it was not enough for India to level the series.
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