India were uninspiring in their loss to South Africa in the second T20I, and stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant was quick to point out the performance of spinners Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal. Pant, who became the team captain after first choice stand-in captain KL Rahul injured himself, hopes to see the spin duo come good after another feeble bowling attack at the hands of the Proteas.
Axar was handed only one over in which he conceded 19 runs, and Chahal was smashed for 49 runs in his stipulated four overs. In the two games, Axar has given away 59 runs in five overs while Chahal has gone for 75 in six overs.
"The spinners have (need) to come (perform) better into the game," Pant said during the post-match presentation ceremony without elaborating much.
He also accepted that their total of 148 for 6 was 15 to 20 runs short despite the pitch being two-paced in nature. "I think (while) batting, we were 10-15 runs short," he said.
Pant, however, lauded the pacers, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who gave India a dream start to their bowling with three quick wickets. "Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar for his 4/13) and all other fast bowlers though bowled very well. We were short in the second half and things did not go our way.
But he admitted that the team faltered in the middle overs. He reiterated that India were looking to win the next three matches of the series in what would end up as an unlikely series win for India, "The bowlers started really well, but after 10-11 overs, we did not bowl well and that's where the game changed. We thought we were going to do similar things (as the South African bowlers). In the last three matches, we will look to win."
Shreyas Iyer was the highest run-getter for India, with 40 runs to his name in 35 balls. Meanwhile, without star batter and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen shone with the bat. He scored a brilliant 81 runs off 46 balls, striking at a rate of 176.08 as South Africa bounced back from a poor start with the bat.
