Miller century not enough as Proteas fall 16 runs short and India take series

02 October 2022 - 20:35
By Amir Chetty
SA's David Miller celebrates his century with teammate Quinton de Kock in the second T20 international against India at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
Image: Pankaj Nangia/Gallo Images SA's David Miller celebrates his century with teammate Quinton de Kock in the second T20 international against India at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.

 A scintillating century by David Miller was not enough for the Proteas as India sparkled with bat and ball to win by 16 runs and claim a 2-0 T20I series win at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Sunday.

Miller (106 runs off 47 deliveries, including eight fours and seven sixes) and Quinton de Kock (69 off 48), who carried his bat, threw everything they had at the bowlers, scoring 174 off 84 balls. But it was too little too late as SA’s slow start proved their downfall.

The Indian batsmen, who were put in to bat after losing the toss, put their team in a strong position as they amassed 237-3 from their allotted 20 overs.

The Proteas lost two early wickets when Arshdeep Singh had captain Temba Bavuma caught at mid-off by Virat Kohli for a seven-ball duck — his second 0 in a row — before Riley Rossouw (0) was caught by Dinesh Karthik with just 1 run on the board.

De Kock got a boundary off the final delivery before a floodlight failure saw the match halted temporarily with the score on 5-2 after two overs.

Aiden Markram and de Kock took SA to 45-2 at the end of the powerplay, before Axar Patel bowled the right-hander for 33 in the seventh over. 

Miller went past 50 off just 25 deliveries in the 14th over before De Kock smashed two sixes and a four an over later, taking SA to 143. He then struck two boundaries off Harshal Patel to bring up the 100 partnership, as De Kock went past 50.

Miller’s fifth six saw the Proteas move past 200 in over 19 before three more maximums in the final over saw them end on 221-3.

Arshdeep finished with 2-62 from his four-over ration and Axar with 1-53.

Earlier captain Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul hit 96 runs for India’s first wicket before they lost their first wicket. Keshav Maharaj picked up the two openers in the final two overs of his spell to finish with figures of 2-23 from four overs.

He first had Sharma, who made 43 off 37, caught by Tristan Stubbs before trapping Rahul in front shortly after the right-hander had registered his second half-century of the series.

The decision, which was reviewed, saw umpire Virender Sharma’s decision upheld as Rahul went for 57 off 27.

With Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav at the crease the runs continued to flow freely as the SA seamers struggle to hit the right lengths.

Yadav hit his second half-century of the series in just 18 deliveries and reached 61 off 22 deliveries before he was run out at the non-strikers end, the dismissal completed by Bavuma and Nortje with the score on 209 for 3 in the 19th over.

Dinesh Karthik smashed 16 off the final over to end on 17 in 7 deliveries as Kohli finished with 49 not out off 28.

Rabada, Parnell and Ngidi conceded 160 runs collectively in their four overs without taking a wicket, while Nortje shipped 41 runs in three overs.