Varun Chakravarthy’s brilliance goes in vain as South Africa level T20I series

An electric affair in Gqeberha on Sunday evening met a thrilling end as South Africa pipped India despite an avalanche of wickets toppling in the center. Winning the toss on Sunday, South Africa decided to bowl on a difficult pitch and the Indian batters had their fair shares of challenges to start with.

India was jolted to a rude awakening as Sanju Samson was shown the way in just three balls with Marco Jansen smacking timbre. Abhishek Sharma (4) and Suryakumar Yadav (4) were no match for South Africa’s raging fast-bowling unit either as they were back in the hut in quick succession too, reducing India to 15/3.

With the cream of batting removed early, Tilak Varma (20) and Axar Patel (27) had to chime in with more resistance than reforms as the Men in Blue started fighting back. Adding 30 runs for the fourth wicket, they did stabilize the ship but not for long. India kept on losing wickets in patches as Tilak Varma was the next to fall.

Axar kept on fighting while an incoming Hardik Pandya, despite being sluggish, eventually proved to be the helmsman for Team India. At the end of 20 overs, India could only manage 124/6. Pandya stayed unbeaten for a warring 39 while Tilak Varma and Axar Patel were the other warriors for Team India. For South Africa it was a collective showdown of brilliance that left India reeling.

South Africa got off to a flyer with Ryan Rickelton (13) and Reeza Hendricks (24) whacking away at the Indian bowlers. It was Arshdeep Singh who produced the first screeching halt in the scoring rate with the big scalp of Rickelton. The introduction of Varun Charkravarthy is what left South Africa in utter chaos.

Varun got the South African captain, Aiden Markram for cheap while following that with the scalp of Hendricks throwing the hosts into a bit of disarray. In a surprising move, South Africa opted to push Marco Jansen higher up the order but Chakravarthy’s mystery didn’t really allow the batters to express themselves in the way they wanted to.

A quicker one from Chakravarthy got rid of Jansen while he followed that up with the bigger wicket of Heinrich Klaasen as the latter fell for cheap too. David Miller couldn’t open his account at all as the ball went straight through his defences and rattled the off-pole. To make things worse, Ravi Bishnoi got the better of Andile Simelane as South Africa wobbled at 86/7.

Just when it felt that India would run away with the second win of the series, Tristan Stubbs who stayed unbeaten until then, came out all guns blazing. The Indian bowlers could hardly penetrate anymore with Bishnoi and Varun’s overs done and the duo of Stubbs (47*) and Gerald Coetzee (19*) saw the hosts home. A staggering 42-run partnership for the eighth wicket allowed South Africa to defy the Indian spinning duo and walk away with a stunning victory. Stubbs won the Player of the Match for his rollicking 47, propelling the Proteas to a series leveller.