Gqeberha : South Africa defeated India by 3 wickets at St George’s Park, Gqeberha. The duo of Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee aggressive striking at death overs helped South Africa overshadow Varun Chakaravarthy’s 5-fer.
Chasing 129 runs, South Africa quickly found them on backfoot as soon as Indian spinner Varun Chakaravarthy was introduced in 3rd over.
Varun massacred whole South African middle order with spell of 5/17 , joint best spell in T20I at South Africa by an Indian bowler. Ravi Bishnoi too stopped the run flow and took a wicket of Simelane at death.
South Africa were struggling at 86/7 in 15.4 , with Stubbs (47*) anchoring at one end and Coetzee (19*) fresh at the crease.
No sooner did skipper Surya Kumar Yadav introduce pacers than the duo took different approach.
Stubbs and Coetzee smashed 12 runs off 17th over against Arshdeep Singh and gained momentum. They continued the approach and yet again slammed 12 more runs off Avesh Khan in 18th over.
With 13 runs required off 2 overs, Stubbs didn’t delay in finishing the match and secured the win smashing more 16 runs off Arshdeep’s in the 19th over and levelled the series 1-1.
In 1st innings, South Africa started brilliantly with Bowl, taking 3 wickets for 15 runs in powerplay. The Proteas continued to dominate India.
A late anchoring knock combined with big hits from Hardik Pandya (39*) helped India reach a fighting total of 124-6 (20).
Stubbs was adjourned the Man of the Match for his heroics.
The 2 teams will face each other on November 13, 2024.
Brief Scorecard :
1st Innings :
Ind : 124-6 (20)
Hardik Pandya : 39* (45)
Sa :
Aiden Markram : 1/4
2nd Innings :
Sa : 128-7 (20)
Tristan Stubbs : 47* (41)
Ind :
Varun Chakaravarthy : 5/17
Result : South Africa win by 3 wickets.
