Centurion: India skipper Virat Kohli blamed the weather god for making life
difficult for his bowlers after they failed to defend a total of 188
against South Africa in the second twenty2o International here.
With
rain lashing the SuperSport Park, Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal
found it difficult to grip the ball and bled 64 in four overs as South
Africa chased down the target comfortably to level the three-match
series 1-1 here.
"Tough one for the bowlers. We were looking at
175 with the loss of early wickets. Manish and Raina batted well
initially. Manish and MS were outstanding to get to 190. I thought that
was a winning total. Then the weather made it hard for the bowlers.
Till the 12th over it was fine but with the drizzle, the wicket settled
down. The ball was difficult to grip too," Kohli said.
Asked
about the conditions, Kohli said: "You don't want play to be stopped.
Once the game was continued in the first innings, we knew it was going
to be continued throughout. We didn't really have problems with the
conditions, it was a constant drizzle, was fine to play."
Kohli praised South African batsmen for constructing their chase well.
"Credit
to the SA batsmen. Klaasen and Duminy really batted well. They were
very positive. Good from the spectator point of view," he said.
"They
took calculated risks. They targeted the short boundary and it came off
for them. They deserve to win. We expect them to show some fight. They
showed the passion which is needed to win games of cricket. They
deserved to win tonight."
Satisfied with his team's effort, South Africa captain J P Duminy termed it as an "easy" win.
"At
the toss we spoke about this being a S/F. Way we started with the ball
was exceptional. They gained momentum with the last five overs but our
batsmen showed composure. Pretty easy win in the end," he said.
Duminy said they constructed the chase keeping DLS system in mind.
"We
tried our utmost to keep with the DLS system. In the end, it worked in
our favour because it gave us the freedom. It was raining a bit in our
bowling innings as well. We knew we had to set the tone with a good
first over," he said.
"They came at us a bit but it
was key to pick wickets in the powerplay. To take down 189 was a pretty
good effort. Certainly will be a good crowd for Cape Town. Hopefully we
can put up a good spectacle.
PTI
