Image: South Africa beat India by 51 runs in the second T20I / © Twitter/X
South Africa chose to bat first and scored a whopping 213 runs for four wickets in their innings, led by Quinton de Kock, who scored 90 runs off 46 balls. Donovan Ferriera (30 not out), David Miller (20 not out), and Aiden Markram (29) all supported him well. Varun Chakravarthy, a mystery spinner, took two wickets for India during South Africa’s first innings.
When India came to bat, they were bowled out for 162 runs in 19.1 overs, largely due to a poor performance from their batting lineup. The only player to put up a fight was Tilak Varma, who scored 62 runs off 34 balls. Ottneil Baartman had a stellar performance with the ball for South Africa, taking four wickets.
India’s performance in the first T20I was better than how they played in the second match of the series. But in Mullanpur, the Men in Blue lacked in various places, be it bowling or batting. The team management must focus on getting their T20I side back ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026.
Critics have not been shy about calling out Hardik Pandya after his lacklustre performance during Friday’s second T20I cricket match between India and South Africa. During Friday’s game, Irfan Pathan, a former all-rounder, was quite critical of Pandya’s inability to reproduce his match-winning efforts from the first game in Cuttack. He received a lot of praise for hitting a match-winning half-century against South Africa during that match. In this game, Hardik Pandya batted his way to just 20 runs off 23 balls.
The second T20I between India and South Africa provided entertainment to the fans, who expressed their reactions by sharing hilarious memes on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The third T20I between India and South Africa will be played on Sunday, December 14, in Dharamsala.