CHENNAI: When the Men in Blue finally walked out on the field five days after arriving in the Rainbow Nation, there was a sense of anticipation as to how the players would fare in conditions that were new to them. Truth be told, from 33-year-old Suryakumar Yadav to 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal, eight from the playing XI of the second T20I against South Africa in Gqeberha were playing their first international match in the country.
And, as expected, they were immediately tested, but recovered to get to 180/7 before rain stopped play. In reply, South Africa were chased down the revised target of 152 in 13.5 overs with five wickets to spare.
Earlier, Jaiswal tried to take on the seaming new ball, but was caught at point by Aiden Markram. Shubman Gill was trapped on the pads by an indipper from Lizaad Williams and all of a sudden both the openers were out for a duck.
Now, in the past, on such occasions, India would have put a pin on scoring and tried to rebuild, often with the likes of Virat Kohli batting through. The challenge here was how this young batting line-up will react. Surya and Tilak Varma showed how. The latter flicked, cut and lofted Marco Jansen to a 19-run over while Surya creamed Gerald Coetzee through covers before sending over the ropes. Such was their counterattack that despite Tilak getting out for a 20-ball 29, India were 59/3 by the end of the powerplay.
From there, Surya was joined by the second-best T20 batter in the team — Rinku Singh. Together, they kept the innings going, picking up boundaries consistently. Surya scored fifty and got out, but Rinku hit three fours of Williams in an over. When Markram brought himself on, he smashed consecutive sixes, one of them leaving a crack in the glass of press box. By the time rain stopped play, India were 180/7 from 19.3 overs.
Brief scores: India 180/7 in 19.3 ovs (Rinku 68 n.o, Surya 56) lost to South Africa 154/5 in 13.5 ovs (Hendricks 49).