India vs South Africa 2015, 2nd Twenty20: Player Ratings
South Africa clinched the T20 series against India with a game to go after beating the hosts by six wickets in the 2nd T20I at Cuttack. The match marred by crowd trouble was a foregone conclusion after India, batting first, were bundled out for 92.
If it was the bowlers who let down India in the series opener at Dharamsala, it was the turn of the batsmen this time around as they failed to bat their quota of 20 overs after being yet again put into bat by South African skipper Faf du Plessis.
Credit should be given to the Proteas’ bowlers who were well backed by their fielding unit, while for India, it was yet again Ravichandran Ashwin, fighting a lone battle.
So how did the players from both teams fare on a scale of 1 to 10. Let’s take a look.
India
Shikhar Dhawan – 6 / 10
After an unfortunate run out in the 1st T20, Dhawan would have been hoping to provide the team a good start this time around. But once again, the southpaw failed to deliver as he played across the line only to be trapped right in front of the wickets off the bowling of Chris Morris.
Rohit Sharma – 7 / 10
Got an early boundary but looked to be troubled by the bounce in the pitch. Was involved in the mix-up that led to Kohli’s run out before running himself out attempting a non-existent single.
Virat Kohli – 5.5 / 10
There was no repeat of the brilliant partnership that Kohli and Rohit forged in the 1st T20 as a miscommunication led to Kohli being dismissed run out. The pair deliberated whether to go for the second run and Kohli found himself short of the crease as De Villiers collected Morris’ throw from the mid wicket boundary to clip the bails in time.
Suresh Raina – 7 / 10
The situation was tailor-made for Raina to produce a match winning knock but the 28-year-old never really looked convincing in his stay at the crease. Seemed troubled by the pace of Rabada and a googly by Tahir accounted for the left-hander at 22.
Ambati Rayudu – 5 / 10
If the 1st T20 saw Rayudu sacrifice his wicket in an attempt to bring back Dhoni on strike, today he virtually gifted a wicket to the visitors as he missed a full toss by Rabada and found his stumps castled by the South African youngster. Rayudu is yet to open his account in the series.
MS Dhoni – 6 / 10
The skipper’s ploy of moving himself down the order failed to pay dividends as he lost his wicket off a loose ball outside the off stump. The Indian cricket fans were hoping that his partnership with Raina would resurrect the innings but that was not to be.
Axar Patel – 6.5 / 10
Was largely ineffective with the bowl, though he did manage to get the wicket of Behardien towards the end and failed to chip in with the bat as well when India badly needed it.
Ravichandran Ashwin – 10 / 10
Yet again, the only bowler who looked like threatening the South African batsmen. He was fighting a lone battle as he dismissed the South African Top 3 to initiate dreams of an Indian comeback but was let down by his fellow bowlers.
Harbhajan Singh – 7.5 / 10
The veteran off-spinner bowled well on his comeback match restricting the South African scoring, but under the circumstances he failed to deliver in the stats that really mattered – wickets.
Mohit Sharma – 6 / 10
With MS Dhoni realising that the only real threat to the South African batsmen was going to be from the spinners, Mohit Sharma was restricted to just one over and failed to produce anything special.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 7 / 10
In a low scoring match such as this one, wickets was always going to matter more than the economy and Bhuvneshwar couldn’t provide India with those early breakthroughs that Dhoni would have been hoping for.