XtraTime Web Desk: Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli feels that the bad weather was the reason for the failure of Indian bowlers after hosts South Africa chased down the score of 188 in the second T20I on Wednesday.
Due to heavy rain, throughout the day, India’s ace leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal faced a lot of difficulties to grip the ball and gave 64 runs in his 4 overs as the Proteas chased down the target with an ease and leveled the three-match T20I series 1-1.
“Tough one for the bowlers. We were looking at 175 with the loss of early wickets. Manish and Raina batted well initially. Manish and MS were outstanding to get to 190. I thought that was a winning total. Then the weather made it hard for the bowlers. Till the 12th over it was fine but with the drizzle, the wicket settled down. The ball was difficult to grip too,” Kohli said.
On being asked about the conditions, Kohli said: “You don’t want play to be stopped. Once the game was continued in the first innings, we knew it was going to be continued throughout. We didn’t really have problems with the conditions, it was a constant drizzle, was fine to play.”
Kohli praised South African batsmen for constructing their chase well.
“Credit to the SA batsmen. Klaasen and Duminy really batted well. They were very positive. Good from the spectator point of view,” he said.
“They took calculated risks. They targeted the short boundary and it came off for them. They deserve to win. We expect them to show some fight. They showed the passion which is needed to win games of cricket. They deserved to win tonight.”
Satisfied with his team’s effort, South Africa captain JP Duminy termed it as an “easy” win.
“At the toss we spoke about this being a S/F. Way we started with the ball was exceptional. They gained momentum with the last five overs but our batsmen showed composure. Pretty easy win in the end,” he said.
Duminy said they constructed the chase keeping DLS system in mind.
“We tried our utmost to keep with the DLS system. In the end, it worked in our favour because it gave us the freedom. It was raining a bit in our bowling innings as well. We knew we had to set the tone with a good first over,” he said.
“They came at us a bit but it was key to pick wickets in the powerplay. To take down 189 was a pretty good effort. Certainly will be a good crowd for Cape Town. Hopefully we can put up a good spectacle.”