Suryakumar outshines whirlwind Miller century to give India series victory

The weather forecast for the second T20I between India and South Africa at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati was all about rain threatening to play spoilsport in the match But when the match happened there was no trace of rain Instead it was an absolute rain of runs in the match with an aggregate of 458 runs giving the capacity the crowd their moneys worthBut to the delight of fans Indias collective batting effort led by a sizzling Suryakumar Yadavs 61 off just 22 balls and posting a mammoth 2373 was enough for them to get a 16run win and clinch the series with one game still leftApart from Suryakumar KL Rahul dazzled with an eyepleasing 57 off 28 balls while Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik played their parts well to feast on South Aficas ordinary bowling show barring Keshav Maharajs 223For South Africa David Millers whirlwind second T20I century 106 not out off 47 balls and a 174run stand off 90 balls for the fourth wicket with Quinton de Kock 69 not out was not enough to make up for a slow start and concede their clean slate of not having lost a T20I series in IndiaAlso Read Shikhar Dhawan named captain for Indias upcoming threematch ODI series against South AfricaIndia were off to a fiery start right from the word go when Rahul placed a length ball from Kagiso Rabada between backward point and cover for four The aggression from India then upped in the fourth over when Rahul nonchalantly flicked off wrists to send a Wayne Parnell delivery over deep backward square leg for sixOn the very next ball Rahul crisply brought out a square drive off Parnell for four more before Rohit glanced through the fine leg to make it the second four of the over Rohit and Rahul took a four each in the next two overs off Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj to end the powerplay at 570Post powerplay Rahul smacked Anrich Nortje for a brace of sixes and a four over the keepers head Rohit increased the thrashing on him with successive fours in the ninth over costing 21 runs The 96run opening stand was broken by Maharaj when Rohit dragged a slogsweep to deep midwicketRahul reached his fifty in 24 balls when he danced down the pitch to smack Aiden Markram over longon for six and brought up Indias hundred in the process In the next over Rahul missed the sweep on a skiddy delivery from Maharaj and was trapped lbwSuryakumar wept and cut through for fours in his first four balls to maintain the runrate tempo He then took Kagiso Rabada for cleaners in the 15th over a flick off wrists went for six over deep square leg followed by loft over longoff for four A scooppull over fine leg for four was followed by a scooping flick over fine leg for six to take 22 runs of the overSuryakumars carnage continued when he slapped a full toss off Ngidi over deep midwicket for six and followed it up with a slice over third man for four He brought up his fifty in 18 balls with a fantastic uppercut over backward point for six on a noball off ParnellKohli joined the boundaryhitting party with a six and two fours off Parnell followed by a four off Ngidi Suryakumar then brought the century of the partnership in just 41 balls with a cracking six over wide longon before being run out on the very next ball Kohli hit two more fours before Karthik applied finishing touches with a four and two sixes in the final over to end a memorable batting show by IndiaIn reply Arshdeep Singh had Temba Bavuma and Rilee Rossouw dismissed for successive ducks in the series in the second over of the chase Markram stepped up to be the aggressor for South Africa looking gorgeous in steering and punching through the offside while pulling crisply through midwicket But his promising knock ended when Axar Patel got some dip to turn it away from his attempted cover drive and hit the top of offstumpDespite the squeeze on the scoring rate and required runrate climbing high Miller took a brace of fours off Harshal Patel In the next over he took two sixes off Ashwin before ending the over with a pulled four After lofting flat over longoff for six off Arshdeep Miller reached his fifty in 25 ballsDe Kock broke the shackles of finding the ideal timing by slamming Axar for two sixes and a four on three consecutive deliveries Miller continued to take a brace of fours off Harshal while de Kocks improved timing saw him get his fifty in 39 ballsMiller then unleashed carnage on Arshdeep hitting sixes over deep midwicket twice while nailing fours through backward point as well as bisecting longon and deep midwicket to perfection to take 26 runs off the 19th overWith India fielding with an extra fielder in the 30yard circle in the final over Miller hit backtoback sixes over longon and deep midwicket to get his century in 46 balls De Kock finished the innings with a six over square leg but it was not enough for South Africa to be on the winning sideBrief ScoresIndia 2373 in 20 overs Suryakumar Yadav 61 KL Rahul 57 Keshav Maharaj 223 beat South Africa 2213 in 20 overs David Miller 106 not out Quinton de Kock 69 not out Arshdeep Singh 262 Axar Patel 153 by 16 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever