Following his side’s three-wicket win over India in the second ODI, South African skipper Aiden Markram admitted that if the batting does not work, the team have to “take it on the chin” and continue sticking to their brand of cricket. An explosive partnership between Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee helped SA escape the assault from Indian spinners, guiding Proteas to a series-levelling three-wicket win over India in the second T20I at Gqeberha on Sunday.

Following the match in the post-match presentation, Markram 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 it at the mid-way stage but it did not work out. Sometimes it does not work out and we need to take it on the chin, we are going to stick to our brand of cricket. I am really proud of course, the role (Andile) Simlalane and (Nqabayomzi) Peter played was massive. To all the guys on the younger side, they inspired the older guys. We need to take one game at a time. We won this game to level the series.”

The four-match series is now level at 1-1.

SA won the toss and elected to bowl first. India lost their wickets at regular intervals and there were no big partnerships. Handy knocks from Hardik Pandya (39* in 45 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Axar Patel (27 in 21 balls, with four boundaries) and Tilak Varma (20 in 20 balls, with one four and a six) took India to 124/6 in their 20 overs.

Marco Jansen and Coetzee created problems for Indian batters with their four-over spells of 1/25 each. Andile and Peter got a wicket each.

In the run-chase of 125, India was in a dominant position, having reduced SA to 87/6 thanks to a five-wicket haul from Varun Chakravarthy (5/17). However, Stubbs (47* in 41 balls, with seven fours) and Coetzee (19* in 9 balls, with two fours and a six) disrupted India’s plans with a counter-attack, taking the side to a win with an over and three wickets left.

Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh also picked up a wicket each for India.

Stubbs became the ‘Player of the Match’.

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