South Africa level series after de Kock special; Gill, SKY misfire again
Mullanpur (PTI): The lean run of Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav was extended as Indian batters stumbled on a good batting surface to lose the second T20 against South Africa by 51 runs here on Thursday.
Quinton de Kock made an effortless 90 of 46 balls, pushing South Africa to a challenging 213 for four after India opted to field.
India were expected to chase down the steep target but South Africa removed Indian trio of Abhishek Sharma (17), Gill (0) and Suryakumar Yadav (5) inside the powerplay to put the hosts on the backfoot. India were eventually bowled out for 162 in 19.1 overs with Tilak Varma (62 off 34) playing a lone hand..
The five match series now stands at 1-1 with the third match scheduled in Dharamsala on December 14.
The local crowd was expecting their home heroes, Gill and Abhishek, to fire but it was not to be.
Yet to realise his potential in the shortest format, vice-captain Gill, facing his very first ball, got a beauty from Lungi Ngidi that seamed away from length to take a thick outside edge.
Abhshek was caught behind in the following over from Marco Jansen. Next to depart was skipper Suryakumar who too got a faint edge after Jansen angled it away from the India skipper.
Batting at three, Axar Patel (21 off 21) was pouched at cover with Reeza Hendricks just about managing to have his fingers under the ball.
From thereon, Tilak batted at a high tempo but lack of partnerships and soaring run rate pushed the game out of India's reach..
Earlier, de Kock entertained the crowd with his remarkable strokeplay.
When in full flow, De Kock is among the most attractive batters in the game and he flaunted his special skills on a true pitch. He was mainly dealing in sixes in the middle and majority of his seven maximums came in the deep square leg region.
De Kock, who recently reversed his ODI retirement and was not sure about his T20 future post the World Cup last year, is back with a renewed purpose and remains on top of his game.
An innings like this just less than a week before the mini auction will also create the buzz among the franchises, who might indulge in a bidding war for the multi-skilled cricketer.
Arshdeep Singh, who had De Kock caught behind in the series opener, was at the receiving end on Thursday. De Kock began the assault with a pick up shot for six off Arshdeep before pulling the left-arm pacer for a maximum over deep mid-wicket.
Jasprit Bumrah too conceded 16 runs in his second over after being disdainfully pulled for six by Reeza Hendricks. The right-hander missed a skidder from Varun Chakravarthy in the following over to give India a welcome breakthrough but De Kock maintained the pressure on the opposition, taking his team to 53-1 in the powerplay.
Brought back into the attack in 11th over, Arshdeep lost his usual calm under pressure after being smashed for a six down the ground by De Kock. The Indian pacer tried to bowl wide yorkers from thereon but failed miserably and ended up bowling as many as seven wides in a 18-run over.
The South African opener looked certain to cross the 100-run mark for the second time in his T20 career but was run out in a bizarre fashion by wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma after attempting a non existent single.
The big hits kept coming even after de Kock's fall with Donavan Ferreria (30 not off 16) and David Miller (20 not out off 12) doing the damage in the death overs.
Arshdeep's new ball partner Bumrah too had an off day and conceded 18 runs in the 20th over after being hammered for two towering sixes by Ferreira.
India leaked 123 runs in the last 10 overs.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
