India vs SA, 2nd T20I, 2022, Top Performances: Heinrich Klassen’s 81 overpowers India; SA 2-0 up

India vs SA, 2nd T20I, 2022, Top Performances: Heinrich Klassen’s 81, Kagiso Rabada's 1-15 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 4-13 are top three performances. SA beat India in 2nd T20I and go 2-0 up.

South Africa beat India by 4 wickets in 2nd T20I; SA go 2-0 up (Images ©BCCI)

Brief Scores: South Africa 149/6 (Klaasen 81, Bavuma 35, Bhuvneshwar 4-13) beat India 148/6 (Shreyas 40, Kishan 34, Nortje 2-36) by four wickets

Player of the Match: Heinrich Klassen (81 runs in 46 balls)

After a poor evening with the ball in New Delhi where visitors South Africa won in the series opener shouldering on David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen’s performances, hosts India locked horns with the Proteas for the second of the five-match T20I series at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday evening.

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and decided to bowl first, given how well they chased in the last game. Even though India fielded an unchanged eleven, South Africa made two changes - Tristan Stubbs and Quinton de Kock, who has a hand injury, missed out, making way for Reeza Hendricks and Heinrich Klaasen.

South Africa stunned India with another all-round performance

Put in to bat first, India lost opener Ruturaj Gaikwad early on the fifth ball of the game before recovering well to 42/1 in the powerplay thanks to Ishan Kishan’s wild batting. South African bowlers made a good comeback and dried up the singles as they put the pressure back on the hosts restricting them to 104/5 in 15 overs.

Due to Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 21-ball 30 that helped them making 30 runs in the last two overs, India somehow ended up with 148/6 in their 20 overs.

Chasing an average score, South Africa faced all sorts of troubles being reduced to 29-3 in the powerplay. But the 64-run partnership in 41 balls between Heinrich Klassen and Temba Bavuma dragged them to a safe place before shouldering on the former’s 81 in 46 balls and a bit of help from David Miller in the end, South Africa managed to win the second game by four wickets.

Let’s take a look at the top performances from the game between India and South Africa, 2nd T20I.

Rabada takes 1-15 in 4 overs as SA beat India in 2nd T20I (Images ©BCCI/Twitter)

Economical Rabada killed India’s momentum

Putting the opposition in for batting, South Africa needed their bowlers to pick up early wickets and their prime bowler, Kagiso Rabada, did just that.

In the first over of the game, he silenced the excited crowd getting rid of Ruturaj Gaikwad for just 1; Gaikwad drove the ball straight to the point fielder. It was the third time Rabada dismissed Gaikwad at an average of just 5.66 in this year. It was also Rabada’s 50th T20I wicket.

He finished the powerplay at 1-4 in two overs before conceding just 11 more run in the death overs to finish with 1-15 in his four overs. Rabada who has five wickets in six T20I at an economy of just 7.09 against India, leaked just one boundary this evening.

Rabada was well supported by Anrich Nortje, who picked up two crucial wickets of Ishan Kishan and Axar Patel, to finish with 2-32, and Wayne Parnell who sent back Hardik Pandya, as South Africa cramped India to 148/6.

Read More: India vs SA, 1st T20I, 2022, Top Performances: Miller-van der Dussen century stand gives SA 1-0 lead

Bhuvneshwar Kumar takes 4-13 in 4 overs in 2nd T20I (Images ©BCCI)

Bhuvneshwar got back his lost charm with 4-13

Defending such a small total, India were desperately looking for a good start with early wickets on the board. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who picked 12 wickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2022 at an economy of 7.22, delivered for India in the powerplay.

In the last ball of his first over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Reeza Hendricks on 4 with an in-swinging delivery that disturbed the stumps. This was the third time Bhuvi had the better of Henricks, who had just 33 T20I runs in 30 balls against Bhuvi.

In his second over, Bhuvneshwar, who had nine wickets in seven innings at an average of 17.2 against South Africa in T20Is, sent back Dwaine Pretorius on 4 with a slower delivery; this was the first time Bhuvi found Pretorius’ number.

In his third and the last over of the powerplay, Bhuvneshwar rattled up the stumps of last match hero, Rassie van der Dussen, on 1 with a back of a length delivery; this was the first time Bhuvi got Rassie who had scored at a strike rate of 250 against the bowler.

Bhuvneshwar finished with 3-10 in three overs in the powerplay; this was the second time Bhuvi picked up three wickets in the powerplay after his debut against Pakistan in 2012. Coming into his last over, Bhuvi got rid of Wayne Parnell on 1 and finished with 4-13 in his four overs.

Heinrich Klassen gets player of the match for his 81 off 46 balls (Images ©BCCI/Getty)

Heinrich Klaasen carried South Africa over the line with 81 off 46

Heinrich Klaasen came into this game as an injury replacement and when he arrived in the middle, South Africa was breathing deeply on 29-3 in the powerplay.

The wicketkeeper began slowly being 4 off 11 before sending Chahal for a boundary and six to break the jail. He cracked three boundaries in the 11th over bowled by Hardik Pandya before nailing Axar Patel for 4, 6 and 4 off back-to-back balls to reach his fourth T20I fifty in just 31 balls.

After reaching the milestone, Klaasen changed gears and in the 16th over bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal, he managed two sixes. In the evening, he scored 30 runs in 13 balls against Chahal with three long sixes and a lone boundary. He scored 16 off eight balls against Hardik Pandya too besides collecting 18 runs in five balls against Axar Patel.

When he was dismissed on 81 runs in just 46 balls that consisted of seven boundaries and five over boundaries, South Africa had almost crossed the winning line which they eventually did with 10 balls remaining and four wickets in hand.

What’s to come

The third game of the five-match T20I series will be played on June 14 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Read More: India vs SA, T20Is 2022: Dravid backs Rohit’s decision to opt out; echoes all-format players’ needs