India achieved a comfortable victory at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali as they went on to win the game by 7 wickets. The Men in Blue now lead the T20I series 1-0 with one match to go.

Earlier, it was skipper Virat Kohli who won the toss as India elected to field first. On a pitch that seemed batting friendly, India decided to introduce Washington Sundar in the first over. However, it was Deepak Chahar who got the first breakthrough as Reeza Hendricks chipped straight to mid-on.

Proteas captain Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma then constructed a decent 57-run partnership in the middle before Kohli pulled off a stunning catch to dismiss de Kock.

The visitors started losing plot soon after as they lost two quick wickets. Rassie Van Der Dussen failed to prolong his stay at the crease as Ravindra Jadeja held onto a catch off his own bowling.

Temba Bavuma and David Miller couldn’t accelerate as the Indian bowlers applied brakes to their innings in the end overs.

Deepak bowled a fantastic spell conceding just 22 runs as he also picked up a couple of wickets. Hardik Pandya accounted for Miller’s wicket as he found his middle stump. A couple of sixes in the last over by Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius meant that South Africa had a total of 149/5 on the board in their quota of 20 overs.

As for India, Rohit Sharma got off the mark with two sixes before he was adjudged LBW off Andile Phehlukwayo. However, Shikhar Dhawan put up a spectacular effort with the bat. The opener scored a quickfire 40 runs from just 31 balls as he and Kohli together put up 61(47) for the second wicket and eased off the pressure.

Rishabh Pant again got a little bit impatient as he was dismissed early. Shreyas Iyer who came in at No.5 managed to stay till the end as he helped finish the innings alongside the captain. Virat Kohli continued to display his prominence with the bat as the Indian batting mainstay scored a scintillating 72 runs from just 52 balls. The bowlers failed to trouble him much as India went on to win by seven wickets and with one over to spare.

Both teams now travel to Bengaluru for the third and final T20I at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.