Ranchi: Man of the Match, Shreyas Iyer’s (113 n o, 11b, 15×4) second ODI ton and Ishan Kishan’s (93, 84b, 4×4, 7×6) blitzkrieg helped India beat South Africa by seven wickets with 25 balls to spare in the second ODI here Sunday. The hosts thus restored parity in the three-game series after losing the first match. However, before the histrionics of Iyer and Kishan, the bowlers did a terrific job to restrict South Africa to 278 for seven after the visitors had opted to bat.
Such was the dominance of Iyer and Kishan that the South Africa bowlers became mere passengers in the game. The two put on 161 runs for the third wicket to seal the match for India. Left-handed Kishan was distinctly unlucky to miss out on his maiden international ton. Trying to hit a long hop from left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin, the batter hit the ball down deep mid-wickets throat.
However, that did not bother Iyer, who duly completed his ton and also hit the winning runs to achieve a thumping victory for the Men in Blue. While Kishan was especially aggressive to anything bowled short, Iyer was content to play second fiddle initially. However, a dab to third-man, a drive to long-on or through the covers showed that he was in good nick.
Kishan was severe on Keshav Maharaj, hitting the left-arm spinner for three sixes in four balls in a couple of overs. It was this assault that opened the floodgates for India.
Earlier when South Africa batted the Indian bowlers did well at the death to restrict them. In the last 10 overs, India gave away only 57 runs and even David Miller (35 n o) failing to take the attack to the bowlers. Mohammed Siraj (3/38) was outstanding for India. Not only did he dismiss Quinton de Kock (5) early, he also broke the dangerous third wicket partnership between Markam and Hendricks after the two had added 129 runs and were looking to take the game away from India.
Once that partnership was broken India managed to enforce the brakes due to some clever captaincy by Shikhar Dhawan who nicely rotated the bowling.
At 40 for two, South Africa were on the backfoot, but what followed was a composed and calculative approach by the middle-order duo of Markram and Hendricks who were happy to bide time, play out dot balls and forge a partnership. From 20th over onwards, they stepped it up, picking odd boundaries every over and in no time they reached their respective 50s – Hendricks in 58 balls, and Markram in 64. However, after that the Indian bowlers staged a remarkable comeback.
Brief scores: South Africa 278 for 7 (Aiden Markam 79, Reeza Hendricks 74, David Miller 35 n o, Mohammed Siraj 3/38) lost to India 282 for 3 in 45.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 113 n o, Ishan Kishan 93) by seven wickets.
