IND vs SA 2nd T20I Live Cricket Score, India vs South Africa Today T20I Match

Arshdeep Singh is back into the attack. SIX! Another over, another maximum for Quinton de Kock. This has been a knock of the highest quality from the wicket-keeper batter in Mullanpur. He has spared none of the Indian bowlers and started another over with a six. Arshdeep now looks to bowl away from him, targeting the wide off stumps line, but ends up bowling two back-to-back wides. Make it three wides as Arshdeep is looking under evident pressure. FOUR WIDES FROM ARSHDEEP SINGH! This is not looking good for the local boy. MAKE IT FIVE WIDES! SIX WIDES!
SA /1 in 11 overs
Jasprit Bumrah with his second over. Reeza Hendricks is looking tentative at the moment, has only a single off the first five deliveries. A couple of dots for Bumrah to start the over. SIX! And Hendricks gets good connection this time. A much-needed boundary for him, who was looking patchy until now. Length ball, Hendricks rocks back and swings across to hit a biggie. SIX! Another! This time, it's Quinton de Kock who hits his third maximum of the innings and makes it a 16-run over. This has been quite a start for the visitors.
SA 38/0 in 4 overs
Arshdeep continues. de Kock has the strike, FOUR! What a way to start the over. Banged in short from Arshdeep, QDK reads it early, goes over the top and pulls it over deep mid-wicket for a boundary. SIX! THIS IS HUGEEEE! Length ball on off, in the slot for de Kock, and he pulls it with great authority as the ball goes sailing over backward square leg for a gigantic six. 12 off this over. After being dismissed for a duck in the first T20I by Arshdeep, he is taking his due revenge this time.
SA 22/0 in 3 overs
Deep Dasgupta and Pommi Mbangwa on the pitch: “Right in the centre of the ground, 68m square boundaries and 73m down the ground. Straightaway looks like a better surface to bat on than the last one. You look at the compactness at sight, looks like there’s a bit of a sheen on it, there are a few cracks and there is a bit of grass but it’s quite compact. It just looks that much better. Like that we’re on a big ground because it brings in so much. You can’t get away with mis-hits. For the batters, you get pockets to get 2s and 3s. It’s about conditions, dew probably comes in later. Want to ensure you know what you’re chasing. Average winning score here is 180. The cracks are not going to open up, it’s nice and cold here. Expect a lot of fours and sixes,”
Suryakumar Yadav: This has always been a wonderful ground. When we played here during franchise cricket, and recently saw a women’s game also happen here, it was wonderful. And the first men’s game, I heard, is happening here - international, so very excited for it. I’m sure the crowd are also excited. It’s really important for the boys to understand their responsibilities and see what the team demands in that situation. They batted perfectly looking at the situation. 175 on that wicket, was a little over par. The way we bowled, I think it was a lovely effort. The balance which he (Hardik Pandya) provides in the team is amazing. The way he batted, the way he keeps calm on the ground when he’s batting, when it’s a pressure situation. And the way he bowled also; I think that’s more important. His overs are also really important for the side. The way he carried himself throughout the game, it didn’t look like he was injured. We go with the same team.
Aiden Markram: We would have done the same. Looked a pretty good wicket to the eye. Not a lot of cricket being played international-wise, so we would have bowled first. But having said that, we can put it up on the board early and hopefully get them under some pressure. There are always lessons to take, but I don’t think you want to dive too deep into things. Make peace with the fact that we can have nights like that, and we unfortunately had that in the first game. But the opportunity is there for us tonight to get it right and make some strides. I think that’s where a lot of the focus is. I haven’t thought of that to be honest. I’m not too sure. We’ll get feedback after the first few balls are over and sort of plan it from there. But yeah, I’m hoping to get off to a good start, build some good partnerships tonight, and it gives us a good chance to put up a good total. Not because of the pitch, but just from a rotation point of view, we’ve got three changes: Stubbs, Maharaj and Nortje are out, Reeza, Linde and Baartman are in.
The Indian side has been quite flexible with their batting order in the white-ball format. Head Coach Gautam Gambhir would even go on to say that batting orders in the white-ball format are overrated. However, former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa warned both the coach and skipper Suryakumar Yadav and said that if things were to go wrong, it would backfire on them.
“If this goes south, it’ll backfire on both Surya and Gautam Gambhir. And people are anyway gunning for his (Gambhir )head. You can’t go into a World Cup as the defending champions with your main batters not in good form. In the first T20I, Hardik saved the skins out of India’s innings. If it wasn’t for him, we would have been 30-40 runs off that total and that’s a 130. Those things concern me,” Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.
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While a lot of focus and attention has been on India’s batting line-up that breathes intent from top to bottom, enabling them to play a brand of cricket that puts you on the edge of your seat, there is something even bigger unravelling in the bowling department. In a format where batters tend to win matches, all successful teams in T20s – international and franchise cricket – have one element in common: the presence of an equally strong bowling attack. For a team that is aspiring to defend the T20 World Cup, India have taken all the possible steps to strengthen the team from the one that won the title in the Caribbean and USA in 2024. For an attack that already had Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav, they have added Varun Chakaravarthy, with Axar Patel already being part of the mix. For a World Cup at home in two months, that’s an attack to be envious of, more so if one factors in the spin resources.
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Left-arm pacers are special for a reason. They tend to be difficult to face, and there is additional pressure when it comes to facing a quality left-armer. Arshdeep Singh is one such quality left-arm pacer who has been the kingpin for India in the shortest format. He became the first (and only, before Jasprit Bumrah joined him during the first IND vs SA T20I in Cuttack) Indian bowler to take 100 wickets in T20 Internationals. Arshdeep is a key figure for India with the new ball, having dismissed Quinton de Kock in the first over and then Tristan Stubbs a few overs later, pushing South Africa completely against the wall. His place in the recent games was in question, as Harshit Rana was given precedence due to his comparatively better slog-hitting skills, but time and again, Arshdeep has proved he should be a fixed starter for India in this format.