India vs South Africa, 2nd T20I in Centurion: Team India Report Card

New Delhi: JP Duminy and Heinrich Klaasen starred with the bat as South Africa defeated India by 6 wickets to level the three match series 1-1 in Centurion on Wednesday. Cricketnext takes a look at the performance of each and every Indian player who played at the SuperSport Park, on Wednesday.

Shikhar Dhawan: Rating 5: Verdict: Average

Ace India opener Shikhar Dhawan took off from where he left in first T20I and started hitting boundaries from the word go in the second match. Dhawan gave the visitors a good start despite partner Rohit Sharma falling early on the other end. With a great strike rate of 170+, Dhawan slammed three fours and two glorious sixes during the course of his innings. However, he fell for 24 and that put breaks to the run-rate of the Indian innings.

Rohit Sharma: Rating 0: Verdict: Very Poor

Rohit Sharma is making a bad habit of going missing in crunch games and the second T20I was a perfect example of the same. With India looking for an ideal start in the match, knowing a win will clinch them the series, Rohit was dismissed on the fist ball that he face off the bowling of Junior Dala. Rohit’s wicket pegged back India early on in the innings and gave the hosts the momentum that they needed.

Suresh Raina: Rating 5: Verdict: Average

Like the Johannesburg T20I, comeback man Suresh Raina started off his innings brilliantly. Raina took the bowlers to the cleaners early on in his innings and slammed five boundaries on both sides of the wicket. However, Raina once again couldn’t convert his start into a big innings as he perished for 30 off 24 deliveries. The southpaw will have to few big innings to cement his spot in the middle-order, where there is lot of competition already in the Indian team.

Virat Kohli: Rating 2: Verdict: Poor

Skipper Virat Kohli once again had an outing to forget as he was dismissed for just 1 by Junior Dala. This means that Kohli has now not performed according to his supremely high levels in two successive matches in the ‘Rainbow Nation’. After putting on a supernatural show in the ODIs, Kohli will be forgiven for couple of bad innings in the shortest format of the game. As far as captaincy is concerned, Kohli couldn’t do much as his bowlers had a rare off day in the field.

Manish Pandey: Rating 9: Verdict: Very Good

Manish Pandey was once again thrusted into the middle after a top-order failure and he came up with the goods when it mattered the most. Pandey held the innings from one end and hit boundaries at will, taking the Portea bowlers to the cleaners. In his innings of 79 off 48 deliveries, Pandey his six fours and three huge sixes to provide the impetus that the Indian team needed after losing the top-four. The unbeaten 98-run partnership between Pandey and MS Dhoni was crucial in India getting to the decent total that they eventually did.

MS Dhoni: Rating 9: Verdict: Very Good

Mahendra Singh Dhoni rolled back the years in stunning style as he left the hosts reeling with his power-hitting. Dhoni’s onslaught caught the bowlers off-guard and he blazed away to a 27-ball fifty to increase the visitors’ run-rate in the dying overs of the innings. Off just 28 deliveries, Dhoni smashed unbeaten 52, which included four boundaries and six mammoth sixes. Along with Pandey, Dhoni wreaked havoc in the final five overs and gave the Indian bowlers a good total to defend.

Hardik Pandya: Rating 5: Verdict: Average

All-rounder Hardik Pandya didn’t get a chance to show how devastating he can be with the bat but he bowled his full quota of four overs. Pandya was one of the most economical bowlers for India on the night when the South African batsmen were in sublime form. Pandya gave away just 31 runs and also picked up the crucial wicket of David Miller.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Rating 5: Verdict: Average

After a five-wicket outing in the first T20I, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was shown the due respect by the hosts in the initial overs of the match and they were reluctant to hit him for runs. Bhuvneshwar, in total, bowled three overs and gave away just 19 runs and proved to the most economical Indian bowler on the night. The reason why he couldn’t bowl his full quota of four overs was because Kohli was saving him for the last over, but the Proteas ended the match before that itself. However, Bhuvneshwar didn’t pick a single wicket and that proved detrimental to the visitors’ cause in this clash.

Yuzvendra Chahal: Rating 1: Verdict: Very Poor

Ace India wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal had night to forget as he put on the worst performance for the India since donning the blue jersey few years ago. Chahal was spanked for 64 runs in just four overs as JP Duminy and Heinrich Klaasen simply tore his variations apart. After a glorious ODI series, which saw him enter that top-10 in the ICC bowler rankings for the first time, Chahal got a rude wake-up call from the South African batsmen in Centurion.

Shardul Thakur: Rating 5: Verdict: Average

Shardul Thakur was included in this match in place of Jasprit Bumrah and he showed glimpses of his good line and length bowling, for which he is known for. In his four overs, he gave away just 31 runs and picked up the wicket of openers Reeza Hendricks who was hitting boundaries for fun at one point. However, he was rendered effect-less by the two half-centurions in the match and he was unable to stop their march towards a series-levelling win.

Jaydev Unadkat: Rating 6: Verdict: Good

Jaydev Unadkat is one of India’s T20 specialist and he is known for his wicket-taking abilities in the shortest format of the game. Unadkat gave the visitors an ideal start in the defence by getting rid of opener JJ Smuts and later, he got rid of Klaasen as well who was simply on fire. However, despite taking two wickets, Unadkat had a very rather average game as far as economy rate is concerned as he gave away 42 runs in just 3.4 overs that he bowled in the innings.