After clinching the second match of the India-South Africa T20I series by four wickets, South Africa batter David Miller showered praises on his teammate Heinrich Klaasen for his sensational knock.
Scoring 81 runs off 46 deliveries with 5 sixes and 7 fours, Klaasen helped South Africa go past the victory mark with 4 wickets in hand and 10 balls to spare at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Orissa.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Miller said: “It was a great win. It was a little bit of a tricky wicket as we all knew, we weren’t in trouble but they bowled really well up front in the first 10 overs, Klaasy’s knock was phenomenal and one of the best I have seen. The conditions in which he played and to come out and do what he did made it easy for us at the back end.”
“It was about playing your game and not worrying about the wicket, if it is keeping low it gets in your head as a batter, so you are not quite sure whether to go forward or not, it was about looking to play straight. It was a little bit up and down but we managed to finish it. The coach and captain’s decision, Klaasy hasn’t played much recently and for him to come in and play the way he did.. it was more to just hold me back but Klaasy proved us wrong,” he added.
Batting first in the second game, India managed to put on 148 runs on the board on a difficult surface, which the guests chased with some difficulty. The Indian team failed to make a comeback in the second game after losing the first match by 7 wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Although Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave India a good start, ending with figures of 4/13, the Men in Blue could not sustain the momentum and were defeated by Proteas, giving them a 2-0 lead.
“It is really tough to win here, so to have a win like this and be 2-0 up is a great achievement. We are on the right track but there’s still a lot of cricket to be played,” said Miller.
The third T20I of the five-match series will be played on Tuesday at Vishakhapatnam.
(ANI inputs)
