India spinner Varun Chakravarthy continued to haunt South African batters in the second T20I of the five-match series. He was the only Indian bowler, who maintained an economy-rate of less than 8, recording figures of 2/29 in his quota of four overs. He picked up the wickets of Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram and was the only shining light in what was a dismal bowling performance overall.
Chakravarthy remains consistent
With the two scalps that he took during the match, Chakravarthy surpassed South Africa's Keshav Maharaj on an elite list. He has now become the bowler to take the second-most scalps in T20Is held between India and South Africa. Chakravarthy has only played six games so far against the Proteas, but has consistently given good performances. He had racked up two wickets in the first T20I of the series as well.
Arshdeep Singh currently leads the list with 20 wickets from 12 games while Chakravarthy as now moved up to the second place. The likes of Maharaj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Axar Patel and Lungi Ngidi are the other players present in the top 5.
Most wickets in India vs South Afrioca T20Is -
1. Arshdeep Singh (India) - 20 wickets
2. Varun Chakravarthy (India) - 16 wickets
3. Keshav Maharaj (South Africa) - 15 wickets
4. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (India) - 14 wickets
5. Axar Patel (India) - 13 wickets
6. Lungi Ngidi (South Africa) - 13 wickets
South Africa's exceptional batting display
Coming to the match, South Africa posted a mammoth total of 213/4 on the board in 20 overs in the second T20I. Quinton de Kock was the star performer for the visitors, playing a terrific knock of 90 runs from just 46 deliveries. He looked set to score a hundred at one stage, but eventually missed by a whisker. A strong 53-run stand between Donovan Ferreira (30*) and David Miller (20*) ensured that the Proteas crossed the 200-run mark. India will need nothing short of a superb batting effort in order to chase down the huge 214-run target.
India's playing XI for 2nd T20I: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma(w), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh.
South Africa's playing XI for 2nd T20I: Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram(c), Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Marco Jansen, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman.