Spinner Varun Chakravarthy's magical craftiness en route a maiden fifer remained a mere footnote as South Africa rode on the stubbornness of Tristan Stubbs to eke out a three-wicket win over India in a low-scoring second T20I in Gqeberha on Sunday. The four-match series is now level at 1-1. But SA's victory, which also halted India's 11-match winning streak, did not come without its share of drama. The first hint of a topsy-turvy night came when India limped to 124 for six on a quick, bouncy pitch after getting the invitation to bat first.
The Proteas were at one stage 66 for six and 86 for seven, which eventually transpired into 128 for seven, as Chakravarthy continued his international resurgence with a five-wicket haul (5/17).
But SA found two valiant soldiers in determined Stubbs (47 not out, 41b, 7x4) and aggressive Gerald Coetzee (19 not out, 9b, 2x4, 1x6) who added a precious 42 runs for the eighth wicket alliance to carry their side past the tape.
However, Chakravarthy deserves credit for making the match a thrilling affair. The Tamil Nadu man came to the party after pacer Arshdeep Singh dismissed opener Riyan Rickelton in the third over.
Chakravarthy started his dismantling job going through the defences of SA skipper Aiden Markram, who failed to read a wrong'un.
Reeza Hendricks (24, 21b, 3x4, 1x6) looked comfortable until he failed to pick Chakarvarthy's googly that rearranged his woodwork.
But the home side did not look in any great danger even at 34 for two after the Power Play, but Chakravarthy's twin blow in the 13th over pegged the Proteas back.
Heinrich Klaasen, a capable player of spin, chose to go aerial route only to find Rinku Singh in the deep.
David Miller's tentative prod off the first ball he faced met with thin air as the straight one from the Indian spinner, which quickened after pitched, crashed onto his off-stump.
But Stubbs and Coetzee, who put pacers Arshdeep and Avesh Khan through the wringer, had enough steam in them to give their side a win, as India strangely used left-spinner Axar Patel for only one over on a pitch where tweakers took six wickets.
Earlier, Indian batters too were all at sea on a springy St George's Park deck against disciplined South African bowlers.
The Proteas bowlers hit the back of length line and the natural bounce on the pitch did the rest. Abhishek Sharma's dismissal was an example for this.
The left-hander's underwhelming outings in T20Is continued as his miscued pull off a climbing delivery from Coetzee ended in the hands of Marco Jansen, who made the first strike dismissing Sanju Samson.
Samson, who had become the first Indian batsman to score back-to-back T20I hundreds, gave himself space to carve Jansen over mid-off, but the opener paid a heavy price for needless pre-meditation to get bowled.
Jansen started off with a wicket maiden and the rest of the SA bowlers hardly offered any freebies for Indian batters to shake off the pressure.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who shuffled across a tad too much, missed a fuller delivery from Andile Simelane to get trapped in front of the stumps, and it was the pacer's maiden international wicket.
Axar (27, 21b), who was moved up the order played a couple of delectable shots including a punch through the covers off Keshav Maharaj for a four, was India's most assured batter on the night.
But the left-hander backed up a bit too far as Hardik Pandya's straight drive took a deflection off spinner Peter Nqabayomzi's hand before rattling the stumps. Axar did not even wait for the review to walk away.
In the interim, India went through a boundary-less period between the 10th and 16th over, which was ended when Arshdeep mowed leg-spinner Peter for a six.
Even an accomplished hitter like Hardik Pandya (39, 45 balls) had to wait till his 28th delivery to find a boundary reflected India's struggles.
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