South Africa level series after de Kock special; Gill, SKY misfire again

The lean run of Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav was extended as Indian batters stumbled on a good batting surface to lose the second T20 against South Africa by 51 runs in Mullanpur on Thursday.

Quinton de Kock made an effortless 90 of 46 balls, pushing South Africa to a challenging 213 for four after India opted to field.

India were expected to chase down the steep target but South Africa removed Indian trio of Abhishek Sharma (17), Gill (0) and Suryakumar Yadav (5) inside the powerplay to put the hosts on the backfoot. India were eventually bowled out for 162 in 19.1 overs with Tilak Varma (62 off 34) playing a lone hand.

The five match series now stands at 1-1 with the third match scheduled in Dharamsala on December 14. The local crowd was expecting their home heroes, Gill and Abhishek, to fire but it was not to be.

Yet to realise his potential in the shortest format, vice-captain Gill, facing his very first ball, got a beauty from Lungi Ngidi that seamed away from length to take a thick outside edge. Abhshek was caught behind in the following over from Marco Jansen. Next to depart was skipper Suryakumar who too got a faint edge after Jansen angled it away from the India skipper.

Batting at three, Axar Patel (21 off 21) was pouched at cover with Reeza Hendricks just about managing to have his fingers under the ball. From thereon, Tilak batted at a high tempo but lack of partnerships and soaring run rate pushed the game out of India's reach..

Earlier, de Kock entertained the crowd with his remarkable strokeplay. When in full flow, De Kock is among the most attractive batters in the game and he flaunted his special skills on a true pitch. He was mainly dealing in sixes in the middle and majority of his seven maximums came in the deep square leg region.

De Kock, who recently reversed his ODI retirement and was not sure about his T20 future post the World Cup last year, is back with a renewed purpose and remains on top of his game. An innings like this just less than a week before the mini auction will also create the buzz among the franchises, who might indulge in a bidding war for the multi-skilled cricketer.

Arshdeep Singh, who had De Kock caught behind in the series opener, was at the receiving end on Thursday. De Kock began the assault with a pick up shot for six off Arshdeep before pulling the left-arm pacer for a maximum over deep mid-wicket.

Jasprit Bumrah too conceded 16 runs in his second over after being disdainfully pulled for six by Reeza Hendricks. The right-hander missed a skidder from Varun Chakravarthy in the following over to give India a welcome breakthrough but De Kock maintained the pressure on the opposition, taking his team to 53-1 in the powerplay.

Brought back into the attack in 11th over, Arshdeep lost his usual calm under pressure after being smashed for a six down the ground by De Kock. The Indian pacer tried to bowl wide yorkers from thereon but failed miserably and ended up bowling as many as seven wides in a 18-run over.

The South African opener looked certain to cross the 100-run mark for the second time in his T20 career but was run out in a bizarre fashion by wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma after attempting a non existent single.

The big hits kept coming even after de Kock's fall with Donavan Ferreria (30 not off 16) and David Miller (20 not out off 12) doing the damage in the death overs.

Arshdeep's new ball partner Bumrah too had an off day and conceded 18 runs in the 20th over after being hammered for two towering sixes by Ferreira. India leaked 123 runs in the last 10 overs.