Cuttack: A superb bowling from Albie Morkel (3 for 12) who was well-supported by Imran Tahir (2/24) and Chris Morris (2/16) helped South Africa trounce India by six wickets in the second Twenty20 match in Cuttack on Monday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 series.
Restricting India to 92 runs, the visitors roped in the match in the 18th over, with six wickets remaining.
Admitting that his team did not play good cricket, Indian skipper MS Dhoni said, “In the batting department, we need to address run-outs and losing wickets in pairs. Overall, we didn't bat well at all. It's important to address what went wrong. You get performances like these, what's important is how you bounce back. The calling needs to improve.”
“There were not enough runs on the board. One thing is for sure, our spinners are bowling well, and that has been our strength. In the coming games, it is important to give some of the other guys a chance. We have some time before the World T20. Amit is bowling really well, but looking at their batsmen, the incoming delivery is something the left-handers are good at, that's why we went with two off-spinners,” said Dhoni.
South African skipper Faf du Plessis said it's an easy job to be a captain when the bowlers perform like the way they did today. “I reckon it's the best bowling performance we have had as a T20 team. For Albie, it's was his 50th game and he was really clever with his lines. I thought there was great variety in those first six overs. Imran, I'm not sure he's ever bowled in the first six. My thinking was just to try and get wickets. KG (Rabada) bowled really fast,” said du Plessis.
Meanwhile, man-of-the-match Albie Morkel said, “I arrived on Friday, during the first T20. I think couple of months ago, I thought I would never get the opportunity to play for SA again. This is my 50th cap. I'm just happy to have played a small part in the series win. Fielding plays a massive role in T20 cricket. We got two of their big guns with two fantastic run-outs. We got wickets anyway, but throw in those run-outs, and that really put us on top. They are a world-class unit. We know what they can do. The series is done now, but I expect them to bounce back in Kolkata."
