South Africa captain JP Duminy heaped praise on his batting unit following their series clinching show in the second T20I of the three-match series against Sri Lanka on Friday, 22 March in Centurion.
At the Supersport Park, Proteas side came up with another clinical show in the second match following their first T20I win, as the hosts’ all-rounder display helped them to beat Lanka by 16 runs in the second match to clinch the series 2-0 here on Friday with the final to be played on Sunday, 24 March.
At the post-match press conference, Duminy was lavished praise on Reeza Hendricks (65), Rassie van der Dussen (64), as their 116 runs partnership for the second wicket helped the hosts to post descent total of 180/3 in the second match against Sri Lanka.
Defending the total in Centurion, Chris Morris did a brilliant job with the ball, taking three crucial wickets while conceding only 32 runs with Dale Steyn (2W) and Tabraiz Shamsi (2W) finished the job for the hosts by bowling the Islander out for 164/9 to win the match by 16 runs here.
Duminy told reporters on Friday, “Always good to get a series win under the belt. All in all, a good team performance. He (Reeza Hendricks) is a quality player and you always knew something gonna turn for him. That partnership set up the game nicely for us.”
He continued, “Udana played a fantastic innings, he got a few lives there but in the end we will take the win. He (Morris) enjoys this sort of responsibility and tonight he was sublime. The confidence he showed today was amazing. Steyn is a match winner and he always gives you something in the powerplay.”
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Lasith Malinga was frustrated with the top-order following the narrow defeat in Centurion, saying the bowling was good here, but batsmen still need to step up to give a solid start to the side.
Malinga signed off by saying, “The bowling went well, but towards the end they got a few runs in the last three overs. They got ten runs more than we expected. Very frustrating for us to lose games like these, especially with the top order batsmen. They have to learn what the team is expecting and provide good starts.”
(With AFP Inputs)
