Stubbs and Coetzee steer Proteas home against India

An unbeaten 42-run partnership between Tristan Stubbs and Gerald Coetzee caused the Proteas to 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 as he took 5/17 in his four overs. SA eventually finished on 128/7 with seven balls remaining after India posted 124/6. 

However Stubbs (47 from 41) and No 8 Coetzee (19 from 9) took the game away from the tourists, as they hit 26 runs in the 18th and 19th overs ensuring SA levelled the series heading to Centurion on Wednesday. 

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

Reeza Hendricks got in on the action with two fours of his own as the home side raced to 16 without loss at the end of the Avesh Khan second over. 

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

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

Stubbs and Marco Jansen started their partnership 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 SA in trouble on 66/6. 

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

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

Earlier, Pandya top-scored for the visitors with an unbeaten 39 from 45 balls to help India to 124/6 in their allotted 20 overs. 

He and Singh (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 Simelane and Markram claimed one wicket each.