South Africa Defeated India By 7 Wickets

India has lost both the Test and ODI series

South Africa beat India by seven wickets in the second ODI to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. India made 287 for six after opting to bat. Rishabh Pant top-scored for India with 85 off 71 balls while skipper K L Rahul made 55 off 79 balls.

Spinner Tabraiz Shami was the pick of the South Africa bowlers taking two wickets for 57 runs in nine overs.

South Africa made an aggressive start to their chase of 288 runs in Paarl with the opener Quinton de Kock and Janneman Malan scoring 132 runs opening partnership. Both reached their half-century scores before Shardul Thakur provided a crucial breakthrough with the dismissal of Quinton.

Bumrah and Chahal once again revived India with quick wickets but wasn’t enough as South Africa chased the target in 48.1 overs and defeated the Men in Blues by 7 wickets.

India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul said, “I think they are playing some really good cricket at home, we are making mistakes as well in the middle. It's a good learning for us.

We are a team that takes a lot of pride in winning, but a good learning for us and hopefully we can grow. We are trying to get better at things we haven't done well in the past.

Partnerships, middle-order becomes crucial when we are entering a big tournament, want to get better at bowling in the middle overs and these are the few things which are obvious and right in front of us. We have spoken about it and it's only up to us to get better, learn from it and find a way."

India has now lost the test series and the ODI series and has lost the first three matches in the calendar year of 2022. The last time India lost their first 3 or more international matches in the calendar year was 2016 when they lost their first four matches, all ODI,s against Australia.