Varun’s fifer in vain as Stubbs scripts SA’s thrilling chase

Kolkata: Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller off consecutive deliveries to complete a scintillating five-wicket haul — 5/17, his first in T20Is — but Tristan Stubbs countered that setback with a measured 41-ball 47* that guided South Africa to a three-wicket win in the second T20I at Gqeberha on Sunday, to level the four-match series 1-1.
Put into bat, India lost wickets at regular intervals but Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 39 took them to a score (124/6) that South Africa found themselves reduced to 86/7 chasing before Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee (19* off 9 balls) combined to add 42 runs to complete a superb win.
When Klaasen came to bat, South Africa were four wickets down but still looking at an extremely gettable asking rate of 7.37. Two balls old, Klaasen decided to attack Chakravarthy though. It was a tossed-up delivery alright but Klaasen didn’t get enough bat under it, giving a simple catch to Rinku Singh at long-off. Next ball, Chakaravarthy went around the wicket and darted in a length ball that pitched and straightened to beat David Miller’s hesitant push. Off-stump knocked back, Miller trudged back as India started sensing a possible win.
It was shaping to be a stunning turnaround from a situation where India looked at least 20 runs short of the par score. On a pitch where the ball was zipping around, hitting through the line wasn’t always easy. South Africa had home advantage but they lost three wickets within eight overs. Ryan Rickleton was looking good as long as he was hitting boundaries but Arshdeep Singh tricked him with a slower length ball that he couldn’t power past Rinku at deep backward square-leg.
Aiden Markram — shaken by a bouncer that hit him under his ear — went for a wild slog and completely missed Chakravarthy’s angled-in delivery. Reeza Hendricks was bowled by Chakravarthy and when Marco Jansen went in similar fashion, South Africa started looking in real trouble.
Ideally, India should have controlled the game once South Africa were 86/7 but skipper Suryakumar Yadav probably missed a trick by not giving a second over to Axar Patel. Requiring 25 from 18 balls, Coetzee first clubbed Avesh Khan for two boundaries before Arshdeep went for four boundaries — all hit by Stubbs — in the 19th over as South Africa closed the game with one over to spare.
Had it not been the last-ball four that Hardik Pandya ramped over the wicketkeeper and squeezed past a diving third man, India anyway wouldn’t have finished above a run a ball. The last five overs produced 38 runs, 14 of which came in three balls when Pandya carted Jansen for four through cover, a six over cover point followed by another boundary over the short third fielder. Barring that brief flare-up, nothing about India’s batting said they had scored over 200 just two days back.
The script couldn’t have gone more awry for Sanju Samson, primed by two consecutive hundreds, as he backed away to a good length delivery from Jansen but failed to connect. The ball seamed a bit but so on point was Jansen that it still beat Samson’s swing to clatter into his stumps third ball into the match. Next over, India were 5/2 after Abhishek Sharma pulled a short delivery from Coetzee but only got a top edge that ballooned to Jansen at short fine-leg. Fourth over, and it was 15/3 after Surya almost keeled over playing a quick yorker from Andile Simelane. So plumb was Surya that he decided against a review after speaking to non-striker Tilak Varma.
India needed a partnership at that juncture but the batters kept going for shots. Looking to make an immediate impact, Varma shuffled across the crease and bludgeoned a length ball from Coetzee over deep backward square leg for a towering six. Keeping up with him, Axar Patel crunched Simelane through cover for four. Simelane overpitched two balls later and Patel chipped it back over him for another boundary. A small phase of consolidation followed with a flurry of singles but a promising partnership was broken when David Miller pulled off a stunner at extra cover, plucking Varma’s fiercely hit drive out of thin air.
With a long batting line-up, India were backing themselves to attack as Pandya came to the middle. But Patel had to go back due to an unfortunate run out when Pandya drilled Nqabayomzi Peter straight down the ground but the bowler managed to get a deflection on it. Rinku Singh’s stay was also short after he top-edged Peter to Coetzee at short fine-leg. It meant Pandya had to be extra cautious about farming the strike and staying till the end, an approach that affected his strike rate (86.67), although it got India to a respectable score.
Brief scores: India 124/6 (Axar Patel 27, Hardik Pandya 39*). South Africa 128/7 in 19 ovs (R Hendricks 24, Tristan Stubbs 47*; Varun Chakravarthy 5/17). SA won by 3 wkts.