With South Africa drawing first blood in the previous ODI, it was a do-or-die for the Indians with the second ODI in Ranchi. The Men in Green chose to bat first on a rather flat deck with plenty of runs in it. De Kock perished early, chopping on to Siraj. Malan and Hendricks looked to tick the scoreboard along with a partnership of 33 before Malan fell for a solid looking 25. Hendricks and Markram then took the attack to the hosts with plenty of good-looking pulls and flicks. Markram chimed in with some sumptuous drives, both along the ground and over the top. The duo got to their 50s and didn’t take the foot off the accelerator.
The long standing partnership was broken by Siraj with Hendricks finding the man at deep square leg. But even after that, SA looked well and truly in control as Klaasen placed the ball into the gaps and sent the odd bad ball off to the fences. A mistimed shot sent him back for 30. Wickets seemed to fall in a bunch after that. India’s death bowling seemed to have improved a great deal since the last game as South Africa ended up with 278 one the board, a fighting total.
India started off the chase with Shubman Gill looking sublime with extremely beautiful drives through the off side. Parnell and Rabada seemed to have no answer for Gill’s straight bat cover drives. Dhawan went early and that brought hometown boy Ishan Kishan to the crease. After Gill chipped one back to Rabada, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan flayed the South African bowling line-up right from word go. Iyer was timing the ball to perfection from one end while Kishan was bludgeoning the Left-arm spinners from the other. It was a sight to behold as both of them got to quick-fire fifties. The free flowing biggies from Kishan’s blade were a treat to watch. Iyer peppered the off side with cuts and drives.
Kishan was distraught after he fell short of a well-deserved century as he was caught at deep midwicket. India were well and truly ahead of SA at this stage. Shreyas Iyer got to a magnificent hundred in the 43rd over, his second in ODIs. Samson continued his fluency from last game with a few dabs and pulls. Iyer appropriately scored the winning runs, digging out a wide yorker to deep backward point and levelling the series 1-1. It will be all to play for in the series decider at Delhi on 11th with both sides looking to clinch the series.
-Vibhor Dubey
The Average Cricketer 