India vs South Africa 2nd T20I: Rinku's maiden fifty, Shamsi's miserly spell and other takeaways

After a complete washout in Durban, India’s tour of South Africa finally got underway on Tuesday in Gqeberha, though not the way the visiting team would have hoped for with the South Africans pulling off a comfortable five-wicket victory in a rain-curtailed match and going 1-0 up with a game to spare.

The second T20I between the Proteas and the Men in Blue at St George’s Park had its fair share of explosive knocks, with bowlers from both teams getting smashed all over the park, although it was one miserly spell from a certain left-arm spinner that ultimately made the difference.

Rain also made intermittent appearances, briefly threatening to play spoilsport for a second consecutive time. It did however, shorten South Africa’s chase with their target getting revised as per Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) calculations. And it certainly did cause the Indian bowlers a lot of problems later in the evening.

Before we shift our attention to the third T20I which takes place at the Wanderers in Johannesburg in a couple of days’ time, we take a look at some of the talking points from the second T20I:

Tilak’s audition at No 3

One of the key talking points after the toss was done and the teams were revealed was the absence of senior batter Shreyas Iyer, with N Tilak Varma batting at the No 3 slot for a change. With the BCCI reportedly not including Virat Kohli in their plans for the T20 World Cup next summer and looking for a long-term replacement for his slot, and Varma’s innings might just be considered an audition.

The Mumbai Indians batter came in after Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for a three-ball duck by Marco Jansen and nearly followed the opener back to the dugout, getting dropped by David Miller at backward point. From thereon, he would then help revive the Indian innings with a knock of 29 off 20 deliveries containing four fours and a six, stitching a 49-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav. It wasn’t an extraordinary knock by any any measure, but might have done enough to warrant himself a couple of more opportunities at one-down.

Rinku’s maiden fifty

The highlight of the day from the Indian team’s perspective, however, was Rinku Singh finally bringing up a half-century in international cricket more than three months after making his India debut in the tour of Ireland.

The situation Rinku found himself in wasn’t as dire as it was when Varma and Suryakumar Yadav were still getting settled at the crease. It was his unbeaten 68 off 39 deliveries, however, that ensured the Men in Blue breached the 180-mark in the end that gave them a fighting chance of going 1-0 up with a game to spare.

#AidenMarkram brought himself on in the penultimate over, and #RinkuSingh made him pay with back-to-back maximums