Heinrich Klaasen smacked 81 from 46 balls which made the difference in the second T20I between India and South Africa played at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday night in Cuttack, with the visiting side taking a vital 2-0 lead in the ongoing five-match T20I series.
South Africa had earlier won the first game of the series in New Delhi by 7 wickets on June 9, whereas the third match of the series will be played in Visakhapatnam on June 14.
In a contest wherein bowlers from both the teams produced a lot of headaches for the batsmen, Heinrich Klaasen made a huge difference with his calculated knock. The right-handed South Africa batsman, who came out to bat at number five, smacked five sixes and seven laundries to punish the Indian bowlers and gave his team a huge advantage of a 2-0 lead in the series.
Another victory for South Africa in the remaining three matches will hand them a series win, which should be a massive achievement for a side which has been on the mend and has been finding its feet for the last few seasons.
But the credit of South Africa’s again in the second match on Sunday night in Cuttack also have to go to their bowlers who produced a unified performance to restrict India to moderate total of 148/6, which was largely achieved thanks to let heroics from their experienced wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik, who hammered a couple of sixes and as many boundaries to score 30 not out from 21 balls.
The Indian batsmen failed to find any momentum whatsoever with the bat when they were asked to bat first by South Africa. Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed for one and despite a strong recovery on the back of a strong partnership for the second wicket between Ishan Kishan (34) and Shreyas Iyer (40), India never had control of the innings particularly when they were batting.
Ishan Kishan scored 34 from 21 balls with 3 sixes and 2 boundaries whereas the right-handed Shreyas Iyer made 40 from 35 balls with the help of 2 boundaries and 2 sixes.
India captain Rishabh Pant could manage only 5, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was bowled for 9, Akshar Patel managed on the 10th and Harshal Patel did well towards the end of the innings to hang around while Dinesh Karthik got the much-needed runs an impetus for his side.
India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck thrice to rattle South Africa in the first half of the second innings but a resolute display of batting by Heinrich Klaasen Took the game away from the Indian side. For South Africa, their captain Temba Bavuma also played a crucial knock of 35 from 30 balls at the top while the middle-order could not do much.
Class and finished the game for South Africa in 18.2 overs as the visiting side scored 149/6, with their star all-rounder David Miller remaining unbeaten on 20 from 15 balls, for which he hit a six and a boundary each.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick among the bowlers from other sides as he returned with figures of 4-0-13-4 while Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel took one wicket each.