Yet again, Paarl is the venue. It’s a must-win for India who fell short in the first ODI. It’s a hot day with temperatures exceeding 40® C. KL Rahul won the toss and elected to bat first. We were unchanged from the last game. South Africa had Sisanda Magala come in for Marco Jansen. Let’s take you through all the action:

• Dhawan & Rahul get us off to a flier:

Shikhar Dhawan played his shots freely while Rahul dropped anchor in a nearly ideal Powerplay for India. Unlike in the previous game, the Proteans started with seam first up. The plan backfired as Magala was way off with his radar conceding lots of extras while allowing some boundaries in his spell as well. We ended the Powerplay scoring at nearly a run-a-ball with our batters looking comfortable. Thereafter, it all started to go wrong.

• Spinners strike twice and derail our effort:

Shikhar Dhawan got out trying to slog-sweep Markram and Virat Kohli followed him for a duck with a loose shot. The scoring rate took a dip as the new man Pant took a few deliveries to get his eye in. Rahul continued playing cautiously. The hosts were keeping the pressure on giving nothing away. That was until Pant cut loose.

• Pant’s brisk 85 swings the pendulum in our favour:

He took a moment to get his eye in but once he did, he was relentless. Pant made scoring boundaries look easy while KL Rahul continued to keep things ticking over at the other end. They stitched together 112 runs with both notching up fifties to their names and it looked like India were primed for a big total. The plot thickens.

• Shardul’s cameo takes India to 287:

Immediately after the drinks break, KL Rahul fell to a soft dismissal. Pant was dismissed the very next over trying to put the pressure back on the hosts. Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer too got out without troubling the scores much.

Continuing his form from the last game, Shardul Thakur played a fine knock taking calculated risks as and when warranted. Ashwin contributed with a maximum as well. Their 48 run partnership took us to a respectable total. But was it enough?

• QdK, Malan race to opening century stand:

It would have been ideal for us to get an early wicket or two. Unfortunately, de Kock and Malan had other ideas. Quinton began the charge right from the get-go giving our bowlers no room for error while Janneman Malan got his eye in. After that, it was carnage from both ends as Bumrah was the only bowler they struggled to getaway. Ashwin nearly had the wicket of de Kock but Pant was unable to collect it to effect a stumping. The opening pair were taking the game away from India.

• Bumrah & Chahal give hosts late scare:

Quinton was dismissed after his quick 78 but Malan kept going from strength to strength and Bavuma continued his form looking comfortable and scoring freely. Bumrah came to the fore getting the big wicket of Malan for 91 and Chahal got Bavuma the very next over. It looked like we could very well swing it back in our favour with some good bowling in that phase.

• Markram and van der Dussen secure comprehensive win:

If that phase had gone our way, it could have been a different story. Markram and van der Dussen stayed composed and played out Bumrah’s overs while aggressively sweeping the spinners. They eventually reached the target with plenty of balls to spare clinching the series and giving the Indian management some serious thinking to do.

It’s been a disappointing performance by our boys in this series. Both our batting and bowling have been below par especially in the middle overs. The old malaise of losing wickets in clusters continues to haunt us. Our spinners had no answer to the Protean batters sweeping. Their spinners outperformed ours. There’s much to reflect on and correct ahead of the final game in Cape Town.