South Africa batter Tristan Stubbs revealed the pressure he felt during his match-winning knock in the second T20I against India, especially with his mother in attendance at St George’s Stadium in Gqeberha on her birthday. The young batter Tristan Stubbs, along with Gerald Coetzee, showed remarkable resilience and powerful hitting in the final overs against Indian bowlers like Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan, leading the Proteas to a crucial victory from what had looked like a losing position.
South Africa’s win leveled the series, shifting the momentum in their favor and frustrating an Indian side that seemed poised to extend their lead. Tristan Stubbs’ coming-of-age season continued as he batted South Africa to a series-levelling win over India at St George’s Park. Tristan Stubbs rescued South Africa from 66 for 6 and shared in a 42-run stand off 20 balls with Gerald Coetzee to end India’s winning streak in T20Is, which extended back 11 matches.
In the last month, Tristan Stubbs has scored his first Test and ODI centuries and though his 47* in Gqeberha will not go down as a milestone, it was an innings of maturity that turned things around for a struggling South African side.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report: Overcast, stiff breeze, some possibility of rain. There is more grass than usual but it is hard and firm. It looks good to the eye. There will be some early seam movement. Seamers will be encouraged to bowl on this surface. You would want to bowl first on this surface, reckon Shaun Pollock and Ashwell Prince
Toss : South African skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and chose to bowl with one change in the playing XI bringing in Reeza Hendricks for Patrick Kruger. India’s skipper Suryakumar Yadav batting first made no changes to the playing XI.
Hardik Pandya the lone fighter as SA bowlers restricts IND to 124 for 6 in 20 overs
Cricket has its way of humbling humans and it did to Sanju Samson, who was bowled off the third ball of the innings for a duck, after back-to-back hundreds in his last two matches. The delivery was impressive as Jansen got the ball to seam and then swing but Samson moved too early to give himself room and may have been in a better place to keep it out if he had remained in line.
Jansen’s first over was scoreless and South Africa had set the tone. Four balls later, Gerald Coetzee and umpire Lubabalo Gcume thought Abhishek Sharma gloved him down the leg side but an immediate review proved otherwise.
Gerald Coetzee had the last laugh when Abhishek top-edged him to Jansen at short fine. But the moment of the powerplay came when Andile Simelane, who was wicketless on debut in Durban, seared in a yorker to Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav to get his first international wicket. Suryakumar tried to flick it away but was beaten for pace and hit on the pad and did not even bother to review. India were 15 for 3 after four overs and recovered to 34 for 3 after the powerplay.
In complete contrast to the first T20I, India’s innings never took off. The visitors lost three wickets within the first four overs thereby hindering the batting performance. Sanju Samson, who scored consecutive centuries in his last two games, was bowled for a duck by Marco Jansen in the first over which turned out to be a wicket-maiden.
South Africa also stuck to bowling the pacers in the PowerPlay, unlike two days ago, and immediately reaped the rewards, as Gerald Coetzee scalped Abhishek Sharma, who top-edged a pull to short fine-leg after the bowler had a decision for caught-behind overturned. Things got worse for India as Suryakumar Yadav was given LBW to an Andile Simelane yorker which left India reeling at 15 for 3. But Axar Patel looked at his best when he scored two timely boundaries against Simelane.
Tilak Varma smashed Markram towards cover. The ball rocketed towards Miller who moved to his right, reached overhead and plucked it out of the Gqeberha. Tilak stood open-mouthed and stared at Miller in disbelief. At the stands, the spectators’ eyes were the size of saucers. The commentators struggled to get the words out.
‘Oh, my, word’, was the overall sentiment as India slumped to 45 for 4. South Africa stayed sharp in the field and leg spinner Nqaba Peter reacted quickly when Hardik drove the ball to him at the end of his second over. Peter got a touch as the ball deflected onto the non-striker’s stumps and Axar Patel was run out.
Tilak Varma too got into the act with a six but his run-a-ball stay of 20 came to an end when David Miller took a stunning one-handed catch at cover.
Axar scored two more boundaries off Nqaba Peter before he was run out at the bowler’s end off a straight drive by Hardik Pandya. The South Africans managed to keep Pandya at bay for majority of his innings as the batter scored his first boundary off only his 27th ball in the 17th over. In between, Peter picked up his second wicket of Rinku Singh who skied a slog-sweep to Coetzee.
Hardik Pandya scored 19 runs off the first 29 balls he faced and only found the boundary off the 28th as South Africa dried up India’s run-scoring opportunities. The middle overs were heavy going as India scored 24 runs in five overs and went 35 deliveries without scoring a boundary. Finally, in the 18th over, Hardik found his touch.
Jansen was brought back on after his first two overs cost only five runs and Hardik Pandya immediately punched them through the covers for four. Two balls later, he got under a wider delivery and hit it over extra cover for six and then closed out the over with a ramp shot off a short ball for India’s most profitable over.
Hardik Pandya then carried on to up the ante as he hit Jansen for two fours and a six, farming the strike while batting with Arshdeep Singh. The last over yielded only six runs for India but saw Hardik Pandya dropped by Aiden Markram and Coetzee.
Varun Chakravarthy’s 5-fer in vain as Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee spring out the surprise win for SA to level series 1-1
In reply, South Africa scored four boundaries within the first three overs before Ryan Rickelton flicked a slower ball from Arshdeep to the fielder at deep backward square-leg. New batter Markram was rattled by a Pandya bouncer which hit him flush on the helmet, and was subsequently castled by Chakravarthy in the next over. The offspinner then castled Reeza Hendricks in his second over.
South Africa insist they have made progress in their batting against spin but then someone like Varun comes along and it doesn’t seem that way. He followed up a career-best in Durban with another in Gqeberha and made India’s modest total appear much bigger than it was. His second ball was a slow googly that Markram, struggling for form, did not pick. Markram slogged, missed and was bowled. The same delivery did Reeza Hendricks in in the next over.
Hendricks had just hit Varun for four and was foxed by the wrong ‘un as he played for turn away and was bowled. Then, he changed ends and was equally dangerous from the other side. In his third over, Marco Jansen had no idea what to do against the googly but it was the final over where Varun all but ended South Africa’s hopes. Heinrich Klaasen tried to take him on and could only find long-off and with his next ball, Varun bowled David Miller to claim his five-for.
The move to promote Marco Jansen didn’t work as he too was bowled by Chakravarthy. He then went on to pick up the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller off successive deliveries as the hosts stumbled to 66 for 6. Stubbs remained watchful and assessed the conditions all this while. However, Simelane, who was slowly growing in confidence, attempted an ugly hoick which saw his stumps rattled.
With 37 needed off the last four overs, India switched to pace and South Africa switched gears immediately as Coetzee clobbered Arshdeep for a 103-metre six. The batter then helped himself to two more boundaries off Avesh Khan in a 12-run over. Tristan Stubbs then sealed the win for the hosts in the penultimate over with four boundaries of Arshdeep Singh.
Coetzee was put on a 12-week conditioning break to work on his bowling, but it seems as though he’s paid as much attention to his batting. After an 11-ball 23 at Kingsmead, with the game all but lost, Coetzee came in with everything at stake at St George’s Park. South Africa were 86 for 7 and needed 39 runs in 26 balls.
He was off the mark with a single and that was all the sighting he needed. He dispatched the next ball he faced, a full delivery from Arshdeep Singh, over long-off to relieve the pressure. Tristan Stubbs ended the 17th over with a stunning drive through the covers which left South Africa needing 25 runs from 18 balls. Coetzee got that down to 17 off 16 balls with back-to-back boundaries off Avesh Khan, who erred in length. South Africa scored 12 runs off the 18th over and needed 13 off the last 12 balls to level the series.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Aiden Markram the winning SA skipper said : I thought we bowled really well, some really good plans and our bowlers executed really well. From the batting point of view, you want to break the back of the chase at the mid-way stage but it didn’t work out today. Sometimes when you lose wickets in a cluster it doesn’t look pretty. We need to take it on the chin, we are definitely going to keep our brand of cricket going.
(On the blow to his helmet and on-field bruise) I’m fine, so far so good. (On Stubbs and Coetzee) They are coming in after a break, nice to see the fire in their bellies. Really proud of course, the role Simelane and Peter played with the ball was massive. To all the guys on the younger side, they inspired the older guys. We need to take one game at at time. We won this game to level the series and we are happy.
Suryakumar Yadav the loosing Indian skipper said : You always have to back whatever total you get. Of course, in a T20 game you don’t want to get 125 or 140 but I’m proud of the way our boys bowled. (On Varun Chakravarthy’s 5-fer) In a T20 game someone getting a 5-fer defending 125 and in this situation, it’s incredible.
He worked really hard on his game and he has been waiting for this stage, and everyone enjoyed it. Brilliant performance from him. Two games to go, a lot of entertainment left and it will be fun at Joburg.
Tristan Stubbs Player of the Match for his 47 runs said : The run rate never got away from us. Coetzee came in and played that innings in the end and we got over the line. He (Coetzee) walked in and said we can win this. It was always two hits away being back to run-a-ball. I just tried to breathe. It’s my mom’s birthday so there were 20-30 people who came to watch the game. This is my favorite place to play cricket. I was nervous, so I was trying to control by breathing.
Tristan Stubbs’ coming-of-age season continued as he batted South Africa to a series-levelling win over India at St George’s Park. Tristan Stubbs rescued South Africa from 66 for 6 and shared in a 42-run stand off 20 balls with Gerald Coetzee to end India’s winning streak in T20Is, which extended back 11 matches. In the last month, Tristan Stubbs has scored his first Test and ODI centuries and though his 47* in Gqeberha will not go down as a milestone, it was an innings of maturity that turned things around for a struggling South African side.
Since reaching the T20 World Cup final in June, South Africa had played six matches before today and won only one. They appeared to lack a certain structure to their game, which showed glimpses of returning when they put together a complete performance in the field and kept India to 124.
The fast bowlers set the tone upfront before the spinners put on a squeeze and all but Keshav Maharaj were among the wickets. Importantly, they removed India’s top three early, and for a combined total of eight runs, and their middle-order had to play catch up. A 37-run stand between Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh for the seventh wicket was the only time India’s scoring rate went above six an over.
Given the target, South Africa may have thought the win would come easily but they were made to work for it. Varun Chakravarthy’s first international five-for left them reeling while captain Aiden Markram’s poor form remains a concern. It has been 26 innings since he last scored a T20I half-century.
South Africa were kept quiet by India’s spinners and as wickets fell, the required run-rate climbed to the point where they needed 40 off the last five overs. Tristan Stubbs held his nerve, Coetzee showed his batting prowess and South Africa got home with an over to spare.
An absolute thriller of a clash at St George’s Park and SA have held their nerves to clinch the low-scoring humdinger! It wasn’t looking likely that SA would be able to pull it off when they were struggling at 86/7 but Tristan Stubbs and Coetzee maintained enormous composure to take their side home. The Proteas did a brilliant job with the ball to restrict India to a slightly under-par score. In reply, Rickelton struck a couple of boundaries but holed out in the deep, courtesy Arshdeep.
Chakravarthy came into bowl in the 5th over and knocked Markram over with a googly. He then got rid of Hendricks in his 2nd over. There was some turn and grip on offer and Chakravarthy made the most of it. Jansen was promoted to No. 5 but the ploy didn’t work for SA as he fell to the mystery spinner. Bishnoi kept things tight from the other end.
The turning point perhaps was Klaasen’s wicket and it was Chakravarthy once again at the helm of it. Chakravarthy then got rid of Miller next ball with a googly to pick up his maiden 5-wicket haul in T20Is and finished with outstanding figures of 5/17. Bishnoi took another wicket to keep the pressure on. But, Stubbs found an able ally in Coetzee. Coetzee got going from the word-go and that eased the pressure of Tristan Stubbs. Both of them capitalized on the momentum and stitched 42 off 20 to take their side to a win with an over to spare.
South Africa prevailed in a cagey encounter to level the series. The Proteas stumbled in the run-chase but eventually held their nerves to emerge victorious. Got to feel for Varun Chakravarthy – it’s rare that you pick up a 5-fer and your team ends up on the losing side. India lost tonight after winning 11 games in a row in this format. They would hope that it was a bad day at office and will be eager to bounce back strongly. The action shifts to Centurion for the next game with both the teams now level on 1-1.