South Africa National Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Match: India won the toss and chose to field in the second T20I against South Africa in Mullanpur on Thursday. The home side entered the match with confidence after a 101-run win in the series opener in Cuttack. Captain Suryakumar Yadav decided to continue with the same playing XI that delivered the dominant result. South Africa made three changes for the must-win contest. Keshav Maharaj, George Linde and Ottneil Baartman were added to the lineup as the visitors looked to recover from their batting collapse in the first match.
Suryakumar said the team was excited to play the first men’s international at the venue. He praised India’s performance in Cuttack and highlighted Hardik Pandya’s role with both bat and ball. "This has always been a wonderful ground. When we played here during franchise cricket, and recently saw a women’s game also happen here, it was wonderful. And the first men’s game, I heard, is happening here - international, so very excited for it. I’m sure the crowd are also excited. It’s really important for the boys to understand their responsibilities and see what the team demands in that situation. They batted perfectly looking at the situation. 175 on that wicket, was a little over par. The way we bowled, I think it was a lovely effort. The balance which he (Hardik Pandya) provides in the team is amazing. The way he batted, the way he keeps calm on the ground when he’s batting, when it’s a pressure situation. And the way he bowled also; I think that’s more important. His overs are also really important for the side. The way he carried himself throughout the game, it didn’t look like he was injured. We go with the same team," SKY said after winning the toss as quoted by Cricbuzz.
South Africa captain Aiden Markram said he would have bowled first as well. He added that the surface looked good and stressed the need for his team to post a strong total. "We would have done the same. Looked a pretty good wicket to the eye. Not a lot of cricket being played international-wise, so we would have bowled first. But having said that, we can put it up on the board early and hopefully get them under some pressure. There are always lessons to take, but I don’t think you want to dive too deep into things. Make peace with the fact that we can have nights like that, and we unfortunately had that in the first game. But the opportunity is there for us tonight to get it right and make some strides. I think that’s where a lot of the focus is. I haven’t thought of that to be honest. I’m not too sure. We’ll get feedback after the first few balls are over and sort of plan it from there. But yeah, I’m hoping to get off to a good start, build some good partnerships tonight, and it gives us a good chance to put up a good total. Not because of the pitch, but just from a rotation point of view, we’ve got three changes: Stubbs, Maharaj and Nortje are out, Reeza, Linde and Baartman are in," Markram said.
IND vs SA 2nd T20I Playing XIs
South Africa (Playing XI): Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram(c), Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Marco Jansen, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma(w), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh
Follow IND vs SA 2025 2nd T20I live score here.
