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India 151 for 3 (Kohli 72*, Dhawan 40) beat South Africa 149 for 5 (de Kock 52, Bavuma 49, Chahar 2-22) by seven wickets
Chandigarh: Virat Kohli led from the front for India in the 2nd T20I against South Africa in Mohali on Wednesday. Kohli scored 72* as India won by 7 wickets with 1 over remaining.
Kohli also became the highest run-scorer in T20Is in the course of his match-winning innings. He now has 2441 runs in the format. Rohit Sharma (2434 runs) is now the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is.
Kohli also became the only batsman to have his batting average above 50 in all three formats of the game in the course of his knock.
South Africa’s new-look batting order was up against a new-look India bowling attack.
Quinton de Kock (52) and Temba Bavuma (49) put up a good partnership for the visitors at the top of the order.
The momentum of the innings changed in the space of a few balls – courtesy two athletic pieces of work in the field, first by Kohli and then by Ravindra Jadeja.
Suddenly, from 88/1 in the 12th over, South Africa found themselves at 90/3 in the 13th over. There was a significant dip in the scoring rate after that.
However, with some lusty shots being hit in the last over – 16 runs were scored in the 20th over, bowled by Navdeep Saini – South Africa managed to reach 149/5 in 20 overs.
Rohit Sharma (12), one day short of the 12th anniversary of his T20I debut, smashed 2 sixes to extend his record for the most sixes hit in the format, but had little impact otherwise.
Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan (40) shared a 61-run stand after Rohit’s wicket, as India looked to be chasing down the target with minimum fuss.
A magnificent one-handed blinder on the boundary line by David Miller brought an end to Dhawan’s stay.
Rishabh Pant fell cheaply soon after.
Shreyar Iyer joined Kohli after that as the India skipper took on the responsibility of finishing the match off.
Kohli finished at 72* while the winning runs came off Iyer’s bat.
Virat Kohli’s one-handed catch to dismiss danger man Quinton de Kock was the big moment in the first innings.
In the second innings, the decisive factor was how Kohli marshaled the run chase with minimum fuss. He brought up his 22nd ODI fifty in 40 balls.
This is the first time India have beaten South Africa in a T20I in India.
