A pair of 70s from Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram and a third-wicket partnership of 129 helped South Africa post a modest total of 278-7 after choosing to bat first in the second one-day international against India at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Sunday.
At 169-2, the tourists were well placed for a total close to 300 but both men fell at vital times in the middle overs when at least one needed to take innings deep with a big hundred.
Hendricks continued his excellent recent form reaching 50 from 58 balls before accelerating to 74 from 76 balls with nine fours and a straight six against offspinner Washington Sundar before pulling a short ball from Mohammad Siraj straight to Shabhaz Ahmed on the deep midwicket boundary.
Markram, too, built his innings patiently to reach 79 from 89 balls with seven fours and a six before slapping an innocuous delivery from Sundar to Indian captain Shikhar Dhawan at cover. The look on the batter’s face was more disgust than disappointment.
Heinrich Klaasen also looked in excellent form with a pair of fours and sixes in his 30 from 26 balls but may have been overly optimistic in attempting to hit left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav ‘inside out’ over extra cover and, instead, lobbed an inside edge to mid on where Siraj hung onto a diving catch.
Wayne Parnell swung hard but mostly failed to connect in his boundaryless 16 from 22 balls while David Miller struck the only two boundaries which South Africa managed in the final seven overs of the innings to finish unbeaten on 35 from 34 balls with four fours.
Siraj was at the forefront of a magnificent display of ‘death’ bowling from India’s seamers finishing with 3-38 from his 10 overs.
Earlier Quinton de Kock (5) departed to his eighth delivery dragging an attempted cover drive against Siraj from wide outside off stump onto his stumps. Fellow opener Janneman Malan showed more intent than he did in the first match striking four boundaries in his 25 from 31 balls before debutant left arm spinner Shabhaz trapped him lbw.
Regular captain Temba Bavuma and spinner Tabraiz Shamsi were both unwell on the morning of the match and were replaced by Reeza Hendricks and Bjorn Fortuin while Anrich Nortje took the place of Lungi Ngidi from the XI which won the first game by nine runs on Thursday.
INDIA: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan
SOUTH AFRICA: Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj (capt), Bjorn Fortuin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.