India vs South Africa, 2nd T20I Preview: Hosts seek comeback in Cuttack – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

India will be taking on South Africa in the second T20I of the five-match series in Cuttack. The home side is trailing 0-1 in the series after losing the first encounter in Delhi.

The hosts posted a mammoth 211/4 in 20 overs after riding on some brutal batting from Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya.

The Proteas on the other hand, lost wickets at regular intervals before David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen came in for the rescue. The two batters scored an unbeaten stand of 131 runs to see the side home by seven wickets.

India will now look to make a comeback in the second match.

Earlier, the captaincy was handed over to Rishabh Pant after KL Rahul was ruled out of the series due to injury. Hardik Pandya was named Pant’s deputy.

Who said what

Bhuvneshwar Kumar admitted that the bowling didn’t really go well in the first game.

“He’s a young captain and it was his first match. I’m sure he will try to do better and improve as the series progresses. Generally the captain is as good as the team and it’s a team effort.”

“Our bowling did not go off well and let him down. If we did well then you would have hailed his decision-making skills. I’m sure he will do well,” Bhuvneshwar said.

South Africa’s Wayne Parnell suggested that it is important to keep the players who were part of the IPL, fresh.

“It’s important to get them fresh and ready for the matches, it’s been 10-12 weeks in the IPL with a lot of time in the bubble. Getting guys mentally ready is going to be key for us,” said Parnell ahead of the second T20I.

Interesting match-ups

David Miller vs Indian bowlers

David Miller has been in brilliant touch at the moment and has been scoring runs consistently and at a brisk pace. The left-hander had done it for his IPL franchise Gujarat Titans and repeated it against India as well in the first match.

While the batters did struggle initially, Miller scored runs at an aggressive pace and kept the scoreboarding moving according to the run-rate required.

The Indian bowling attack will need a different plan to put a halt on Miller’s scoring-rate.

Squads:

South Africa: Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Dwaine Pretorius, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks

India: Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Umran Malik

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.