Stubbs, Coetzee carry Proteas to victory in second T20 against India

An unbeaten 42-run partnership between Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee saw the Proteas claim a nail-biting three-wicket win over India in the second T20 international in Gqeberha on Sunday.

A career best five-wicket haul by Varun Chakravarthy almost derailed the Proteas chase at St George's Park as he took five wickets for 17 runs in his four overs. South Africa finished on 128/7 with seven balls remaining after India posted 124/6. 

However, Stubbs (47 from 41) and number eight Gerald Coetzee (19 from 9) took the game away from the tourists as they hit 26 runs in the 18th and 19th overs, ensuring the Proteas levelled the four-match series heading to Centurion on Wednesday. 

Chasing 125 for victory from 20 overs, South Africa got off to a solid start when Ryan Rickelton opened his account with a four as the home side scored seven runs without loss in the opening over. 

Hendricks got in on the action with two fours as South Africa raced to 16 without loss at the end of Avesh Khan's second over. 

Rickelton (13) was caught by Rinku Singh at fine leg off Arshdeep Singh while captain Aiden Markram, who was struck on the helmet by a Hardik Pandya short ball, was bowled by Varun Chakravarthy for just three as SA reached the end of the power play on 34/2. 

Hendricks (24) became Chakravarthy’s second victim when he failed to pick a googly that slipped through his defences and rearranged his timber, with the Proteas 80 runs in arrears as they slipped to 45/3 after the eighth over. 

Stubbs and Marco Jansen started their combination cautiously, steering the hosts to 57/3 at the halfway stage. However, their 20-run partnership was disrupted when Jansen was bowled by Chakravarthy for his third wicket in three consecutive overs. 

Heinrich Klaasen (2) and David Miller (0) completed Chakravarthy’s five-wicket haul, a career best performance as he removed the batters off consecutive deliveries with South Africa in trouble on 66/6. 

Andile Simelane perished for seven runs, bowled as he attempted to heave Ravi Bishnoi into the stand while Stubbs quietly made his way to 24 as wickets tumbled around him. 

Coetzee struck a huge six off Arshdeep before a Stubbs boundary from the last ball of the over took SA to 100/7, 25 runs behind with 18 deliveries left in the match. 

Earlier, Hardik Pandya top-scored for the visitors with an unbeaten 39 from 45 balls to help India to 124/6. 

He and Arshdeep (7) shared an unbeaten 37-run partnership for the seventh wicket, as only two other batters, Axar Patel (27) and Tilak Varma (20), were able to breach the 20-run barrier. 

Jansen and Coetzee led from the front, claiming the wickets of Sanju Samson (0) and Abhishek Sharma in the first two overs of the match as they returned identical figures of 1/25 from a combined eight overs. 

Nqaba Peter grabbed 1/20 from his four overs while Andile Simelane and Markram claimed one wicket each.