🏏 India vs South Africa T20: 2nd Match🏏

🏏 India vs South Africa T20: 2nd Match🏏

Take just a few steps out of the Biju Patnaik International airport in Bhubaneshwar, and a big, vibrant hoarding with images of players from India and South Africa - and the chief minister - will catch your attention.😃

India and South Africa are set to square off with each other in the 2nd T20I which is set to take place today at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. 

India is led byRishabh Pant in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma. South Africa is led by Temba Bavuma. In the IND vs SA 1st T20I, South Africa defeated India by 7 wickets.

While focus will squarely be on the bowlers to up their game - admitted as much by Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the eve of the fixture - it will also be interesting to see if India bat with the same sort of uncharacteristic abandon on what could be a slowish surface.

For South Africa, the expectation will largely be to produce more of the same from their record-shattering evening two days ago. Starting with the rub of the green in Temba Bavuma's favour at the toss, what with dew likely to make an erratic impact. 

The hosts came under the pump in defense of a 200-plus total in the opening fixture, but that defeat was a collective bowling failure. Expect them to stick to the same combination.

Pitch Report -- 

An excruciatingly humid evening. The forecast is for it to go as high as 95 percent, which should drag dew into play. 

The pitches at Barabati have traditionally been on the slower side irrespective of the format, so the spinners on both teams should do better than their forgettable outings in Delhi.

Recent Venue Records (Barabati Stadium, Cuttack) 

Stats- T20Is

Total matches- 2

Matches won batting first- 1

Matches won bowling first- 1

Average 1st Inns scores- 136

Average 2nd Inns scores- 91

India

The hosts came under the pump in defense of a 200-plus total in the opening fixture, but that defeat was a collective bowling failure. Expect them to stick to the same combination.

Probable XI: Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan

South Africa

Aiden Markram is still out with Covid, not that a batting order that performed so well in Delhi should be disturbed. The half of it that was required to chase down South Africa's record target, anyway. But Keshav Maharaj, unlucky though he was in the first match, might make way for Lungi Ngidi.

Probable XI: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma (c), Dwaine Pretorius, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi

Thank you for the tag buddy 🤗

India🥳

Bachna ae haseeno lo mein agayi 😎 

KKR 🥳

Shreyas Iyer is India's leading run-getter in T20Is this year (265 runs in 5 innings). Ishan Kishan is close second (252 runs).

- Quinton de Kock vs India in T20Is: 4 Innings | 159 runs | 143.20 SR

What They Said:

"It was a great win the other night and we'll take a lot of confidence from that, but it's a brand new venue with new conditions." -Wayne Parnell on Barabati Stadium, where only two T20Is have been played.

"We discussed what went wrong. It was just the first match of the series and everyone is coming out of the IPL, and almost everyone who is in the team had a good season (in IPL). 

We just spoke about what needs to be done in the 2nd game and where we can improve. 

It wasn't a big discussion because anyone can have an off-day. As a bowling unit we had an off-day, and we just want to come back in the next match." - Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Originally posted by: Havaana

Bachna ae haseeno lo mein agayi 😎 

KKR 🥳

KKR players are busy preparing for next year's IPL. 

Originally posted by: Viswasruti

Today's match is between Ind  --South Africa ❤️ 

KKR players are busy preparing for next year's IPL. 

India 🥳

The team winning the toss might opt to bowl first. 

Chasing will be a good option for both teams.

 In the IND vs SA 1st T20I, we witnessed how SA managed to chase the target in the 2nd innings. 

South Africa also chose to bowl after winning the toss. Hence, both the teams will go ahead with the strategy of bowling first if they win the toss.

Report from Cuttack ---

The Silver City has been garlanded again. Yes, international cricket in this part of the world is revered. 

That is well documented. India's last ODI defeat at this venue dates back to 2003 which also is in the record books as well. 

However, this is the only 2nd T20I at this venue. The first one involving the same teams was an infamous one as the bottles took centrestage. 

The pressure has bottled up on the home team though this time. They are behind in this series and need to win today to stay alive. 

Barabati in white ball has been one of India's fortress, but this is the shortest format. 

The deck remains mostly similar throughout and the indentations or the divots don't have much of a say as is the case in the other longer formats. Spin to win is passé. 

We have seen runs being scored at a good pace, and we might see the same again.