IND vs SA: KL Rahul Blames The Indian Batting Lineup After Shambolic Loss To South Africa In 2nd ODI

The Indian team under the captaincy of KL Rahul succumbed to an 8-wicket loss in the 2nd of a 3-match ODI series against South Africa at Gqeberha’s St. George’s Oval ground yesterday which helped the hosts equal the series by 1-1.

It was indeed a great fightback by the Proteas who were slammed by the same Indian team during the 1st ODI at Johannesburg. South Africa’s top-order underwent a dramatic collapse at the Wanderers stadium where they had elected to bat first after winning the toss.

Left-arm quickie Arshdeep Singh was responsible for the Proteas collapse as he took his first-ever 5-wicket haul and was complimented by fellow pacer Avesh Khan who also had a day to remember, picking up 4 wickets with Kuldeep Yadav landing the final blow.

However, yesterday the tables had turned and it was the Indian team that suffered the wrath of South Africa’s comeback. The Men in Blue flopped in both Batting as well as the Bowling department as Aiden Markram’s decision to bowl first proved to be the right decision.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudarshan opened the innings but the former was caught before wicket by Nandre Burger right after scoring a 4 in the first ball. Number 3 Tilak Varma had an off day, scoring 10 off 30 before KL Rahul came into the middle.

He steadied India’s innings along with Sudarshan who scored his 2nd consecutive half-century. The duo stood for a 68-run partnership before the left-handed batter departed for 62 off 83 by Lizaad Williams.

Sudarshan was replaced by Sanju Samson who was facing an ODI ball for the first time since August 2023. The Kerala batter had a very good chance of proving himself but all that he could manage was 12 runs and was sent to the dressing room in the 32nd over.

KL Rahul watched on from the other end as wickets kept falling and soon after Samson’s dismissal, the 31-year-old received his marching orders from Nandre Burger after scoring 56 off 64 with India losing 5 wickets for 167.

None of the following batters were able to put any positive effect as Rinku Singh and Axar Patel scored 17 and 7 while Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, and Mukesh Kumar scored a combined 32 runs to help India set a target of 212 in 46.2 overs.

KL Rahul blames condition for Indian batting’s “No Show”

“It was a hard wicket to bat on, but a couple of us got set. If one of us, including me, could have gone on to get a hundred we could have controlled the innings and got 50-60 runs extra, which could have made a big difference,” KL Rahul stated.

“We trust the players to come up with their own game plan. Games like this will help them learn and get better as a cricketer,” KL Rahul further added.

Tony De Zorzi powers South Africa to easy 8-wicket win

In response, South Africa got off to a flyer with Reeza Hendricks and Tony de Zorzi running the show. The duo looked unstoppable early on as Indian bowlers found it difficult to get rid of either of the in-form batters.

Hendricks and Zorzi stood for a partnership of 130 before Arshdeep Singh sent Hendricks to the dressing room for 52. But that did not faze Tony De Zorzi who went on to score his maiden ODI Ton in what was his 4th ODI match.

Zorzi scored 119 off 122, including 9 Fours and 6 Sixes with a decent strike rate of 97.54. Rassie Van Der Dussen got out for 36 by Rinku Singh with Aiden Markram replacing him and scoring the winning runs to help South Africa win by 8 wickets and make the 3rd ODI, a do-or-die contest for both teams.

The all-to-play for the 3rd ODI will take place tomorrow at Boland Park in Paarl from 4:30 PM onwards.