IND vs SA 2025-26, 2nd T20I: De Kock 90, Jansen 2-25 headline South Africa win; series pegged 1-1

IND vs SA 2025-26, 2nd T20I: De Kock’s 90 and Jansen’s 2/25 guide South Africa to victory, levelling the series 1-1.

Brief Scores: SA 213/4 (Quinton de Kock 90, Donovan Ferreira 30*, Varun Chakravarthy 2/29) beat Ind 162 (Tilak Varma 62, Ottneil Baartman 4/24, Marco Jansen 2/25) by 51 runs to level the series 1-1.

Player of the match: Quinton de Kock

Team India put on a ruthless all-round performance during the opening T20I of the five-match series against South Africa in Cuttack. Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 59-run knock and bowlers’ superb performance provided them a 1-0 lead, courtesy of a 101-run win. The hosts aimed to continue the same dominance in the second game at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur.

There was a bit of sheen on the surface, which looked more compact than the previous track. Even though there were cracks on the track, the grass held it nicely. On the center surface of the ground, the batters would need to aim the pockets for 2s and 3s. Dew had already started to form even before the beginning of the clash.

India’s captain, Suryakumar Yadav, won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first. The Proteas brought Reeza Hendricks, George Linde, and Ottneil Baartman into the playing eleven. Meanwhile, the hosts retained the same playing eleven.

Talking point: Shubman Gill & Suryakumar Yadav’s bats need to yield runs
Shubman Gill and Suryakumar continued their slump in the T20Is. The former now has a T20I average of 23.90 in 2025 with 263 runs in 14 innings. India’s captain, on the other hand, has bagged only 201 runs in 17 innings at 14.35. Both of them are yet to score a T20I fifty this year. It’s high time now that they put up a strong show with the bat.

Read More: Gill included for T20Is against SA, but shouldn’t India have better preserved him for Tests & ODIs?

Quinton de Kock’s 90 propels South Africa to 213/4
Unlike the previous game, South Africa showed dominance with the bat in New Chandigarh. Quinton de Kock and Markram’s 83-run second-wicket stand laid down a strong platform for the visitors. The former used his power against both pacers and spinners to get the big shots around the park. He finished with 90 runs in 46 balls at a strike rate of just under 200 with the help of five boundaries and seven sixes.

Arshdeep Singh experienced a nightmare in the middle, leaking 54 runs without any success in his four overs. Even Jasprit Bumrah struggled with his yorkers, especially at the death. Meanwhile, Donovan Ferreira and David Miller’s unbeaten 53-run stand fired the Proteas to 213/4 in their allotted 20 overs.

Read More: IND vs SA 2025-26, 1st T20I: Pandya’s all-round show, bowlers’ good work help India smash SA

South Africa’s smart bowling clinches 51-run win to level series at 1-1
India’s top order continued to struggle for the second consecutive game. Gill returned for a golden duck while Suryakumar added only five runs in four deliveries. Surprisingly, Axar Patel was promoted to number three, only for the southpaw to finish with a run-a-ball 21-run knock. Tilak Varma was the only shining light of the chase as he registered his fifth T20I fifty.

Hardik also failed to burst the firecrackers and returned for a 23-ball 20. Marco Jansen used the hard lengths exceptionally to finish with figures of 2/25 in his four overs. Later, Baartman got the lottery of picking three wickets in his last over as India got bundled out for 162. The Proteas leveled the series at 1-1 with the 51-run victory.

Statistical highlights from IND vs SA 2nd T20I, Mullanpur

• Quinton de Kock equals Jos Buttler and Nicholas Pooran to score the joint-most 50+ scores (05) against India in T20Is.
• Quinton de Kock (395) overtakes Jos Buttler (381) to become the leading T20I run-getter against India in India.
• Varun Chakravarthy reached the 50-wicket mark in T20Is, with the dismissal of Quinton de Kock.
• Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram record South Africa’s second-highest second-wicket T20I partnership (83) in India.
• Quinton de Kock recorded the third-highest individual T20I score (90) for South Africa in India.
• Arshdeep Singh bowled the second-costliest completed spell (4-0-54-0) in his T20I career.
• Varun Chakravarthy (16) overtakes Bhuvneshwar Kumar (14) to become India’s second leading T20I wicket-taker against South Africa.
• South Africa logged their joint third-most sixes (15) in a T20I innings.
• Abhishek Sharma becomes the first batter among Test-playing nations to complete 50 T20I sixes in 2025.

Read More: Suryakumar Yadav has been decent with the bat in SMAT 2025-26, but India need him to contribute more

What’s to come
With the series leveled off at 1-1, both teams have a chance to take a lead in the third contest. That will take place on December 14 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.

Read More: Takeaways for India from T20I series against Australia