RSA VS IND - 2nd ODI, India tour of South Africa, 2021-22

So, it's 4-1 to South Africa and India have an opportunity to finish on a high at Newlands, Cape Town on Sunday. The place where they gave it all in the Test series decider last week. Do remember to tune in for that. A special shout to all those wonderful comments/feedback during the course of the game. See you soon!!

Quinton de Kock, Player of the Match: Good to get out there and score some runs. Quite nice to be out there and bat some time. I was feeling good towards the end there. I think me and Janneman are both similar players and we have a great understanding. It's been brief (speaking about fatherhood), only had a chance to spend couple of days along with her, but it's been very chilled and I think it's changed my view on life and kids in general. It's been great.

Temba Bavuma, South African skipper: Very happy. We wanted to win the series and weren't really expecting it to do after the 2 games. Lot of positives to take from our performances. Great to have him (QDK) in the side and he reminded us again why he is such a valuable player for us. As a team we have a lot of self-belief and confidence in our ability. We are not a team that prides itself on having superstars or relying on individual performances. We really try and put in a team effort. Coming into this series from the Test side, no-one had much faith in us and that gave us a lot of motivation. The performances in the last month have been really good. Spinners have done a splendid job. It's a great thing. We pride ourselves on fast bowlers, but to see the spin bowlers winning the game for us that really makes us a side to reckon against. I enjoy captaincy and I enjoyed it since domestic cricket. I see it to something to forget about myself and try and see how I can inspire the other guys in the team. 3-0 sounds a lot better than 2-1.

KL Rahul, Indian skipper: I think they are playing some really good cricket at home, we are making mistakes as well in the middle. It's a good learning for us. We are a team that takes a lot of pride in winning, but good learning for us and hopefully we can grow. We are trying to get better at things we haven't done well in the past. Partnerships, middle order becomes crucial when we are entering a big tournament, wanna get better at bowling in the middle overs and these are the few things which are really obvious and right in front of us. We have spoken about it and it's only up to us to get better, learn from it and find a way. It does feel like one of the wickets at home and I don't think it was pitch where they could have chased down 280 that easily. Credit to them, they are showing us the importance of partnerships and putting pressure early on against the bowlers. The way Shikhar and Virat batted in the first game was very good, and today Rishabh batted, the way he managed the first 20 balls and then he took down the spinners. He is a really important member of the team and Shardul, too, showing us he can bat lower down and make a good contribution. Jasprit has been the standout bowler for us and Yuzi has been good today. The energy has been great, it's been tough on the body staying in the bubbles. We love challenges and we have come short in the first 2 games, we will look ahead to the third game and try and win that one. Too early to say (about team changes for the next ODI).

Rishabh Pant receives a special memento for recording his highest score in ODIs...

Stats roundup by the CB statsguru Deepu Narayanan:

This is the highest successful run chase in 15 ODIs in Paarl
Previous highest: 250 by SA vs SL in 2001

Losing first two ODIs as captain (India)
A Wadekar
D Vengsarkar
K Srikkanth
M Azharuddin
KL Rahul

Highest targets chased down by SA vs India in ODIs
297 Nagpur 2011
288 Delhi 1991
288 Paarl 2022 *
280 Joburg 2001

18:33 local, 22:03 IST: There's nothing much you can write about when only one team decides to show up. South Africa just showed what India lacked in the last game. At the end of 31 overs, South Africa were 181/1, almost similar to India's 179/2, but as the golden rule goes - Double up your score after 30 overs in ODIs - is something the visitors failed to do with the bat and with ball, they failed to pick wickets in the first 20 overs, enabling QDK and Janneman Malan to score at 6 RPO while at it. The spinners, too, couldn't create as much impact and one cannot help but think about the early stumping opportunity Pant missed when de Kock was on 32. Barring Bumrah, the bowling looked toothless and despite a couple of quick wickets around the 35th over mark, there just wasn't enough runs to create any sort of pressure on the Proteas. It's been a dismal show from the visitors. Hang on for the presentations...

Shreyas Iyer to Markram, 1 run, need no more facepalm QDK, It's been driven wide of mid-off and South Africa seal the series with a game to go. They win by 7 wickets and go 2-0 up in the 3-match series...

Shreyas Iyer, right-arm leg break, comes into the attack

Quinton de Kock cannot believe what he just saw. He wants to get done with this game ASAP... Facepalms himself while hiding the chuckles...

Bhuvneshwar to van der Dussen, no run, full and just outside off, RVD plays a solid front foot block into the covers

Bhuvneshwar to Markram, 1 run, slower delivery outside off, Markram pushes to mid-off and hurries across for a quick single

Bhuvneshwar to van der Dussen, 1 run, full outside off at 123ks, RVD opens the bat face and drives along the ground to the left of sweeper cover

Bhuvneshwar to van der Dussen, 2 runs, back of a length angled in on the stumps, whipped away to the right of deep mid-wicket

Bhuvneshwar to Markram, 1 run, slower delivery on and around leg-stump, punched down to long-on

Just one hit away now

Bhuvneshwar to van der Dussen, 1 run, length delivery on the stumps, RVD rolls his wrists and nudges it down to long-on

Bumrah to Markram, no run, looks to smite this over mid-wicket but gets beaten on the under edge yet again