IND vs SA: India Bag First T20I Series Win Against Proteas, Defeat Visitors By 16 Runs In 2nd Match

In a high-scoring encounter, India got better of South Africa in the second T20I and defeated them by 16 runs to seal 2-0 series win at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, Assam on Sunday.

With this unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, India clinched their first T20I series victory over Proteas. In the previous three series played in India, South Africa had come out on top once (2015) while the remaining two series were drawn (2019, 2022).

In a 458-run affair, it was raining sixes and fours in both the innings of the match. But the all-round affort from the hosts benefitted them to outclass their opponents in such a high-scoring encouter.

Chasing giant target of 238, South Africa were reduced to 5/2 after Arshdeep Singh took two wickets in his first over, but Quinton de Kock and David Miller rebuilt with a century stand that gave South Africa a distant chance of scaling the target down.

Miller completed his second T20I ton off just 46 balls, but in the end, the target was too high for South Africa to chase down. The unbeaten 174-run stand between Miller and de Kock is now the highest for the fourth wicket or lower in T20Is but it went in vain. De Kock was struggling to get going on the Indian bowlers as he scored 48-ball 69 despite coming as an opener.

Earlier, put in to bat first, India got a flying start as opners KL Rahul and skipper Rohit Sharma hammered 96 inside 10 overs. Keshav Maharaj provided the first breakthrough for visitors as he scalped Rohit for 43.

Virat Kohli came out with good intent too, but it was Suryakumar who once again changed the entire complexion of the match.

Yadav completed an 18-ball half-century, the joint-second-fastest for India in the format to push India in the middle and end overs. Yuvraj Singh still holds the record for his 12-ball fifty in the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007. Yadav equalled KL Rahul's feat to get to a brilliant fifty.

Yadav also created another record during his knock, getting to 1000 T20I runs and becoming the quickest (in terms of balls faced) to the landmark. Glenn Maxwell had held the record for getting there in 604 balls, but Yadav easily surpassed that, making the feat off his 573rd ball in T20Is.

The partnership between Kohli and Yadav (102 in 42 balls) was also India's quickest stand of 100 runs or more in this format.

India put on 237/3 batting first, their fourth-highest T20I total, a massive 141 runs coming in the last 10 overs. This was also the highest T20I total made against South Africa in T20Is.