Kagiso Rabada finished with brilliant figures of 1/14 in his four overs as South Africa rode on Heinrich Klaasen’s half-century to beat India by four wickets at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on Sunday. The visitors now lead the five-match series 2-0. 

Rabada knocked off India opener Ruturaj Gaikwad on the fifth delivery of the first over. The Indian batter played loosely and handed Keshav Maharaj an easy catch at point. He scored one run in four balls. The wicket was the pacer’s 50th in the format. 

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Kagiso Rabada has reached the landmark in 42 T20I games., where he has bowled at an average of 25.90 and economy rate of 8.45 rpo. 

Meanwhile, Klaasen scored a career-best 81 in 46 balls with the help of seven boundaries and five maximums. On a two-paced track where most of the batters struggled, the 30-year-old made it look ridiculously easy as he smashed Indian bowlers, except Bhuvneshwar Kumr, all around the park. South Africa chased down 149 runs with 10 balls to spare. 

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The wicketkeeper-batter, who was included into the side as a forced change for injured Quinton de Kock, completed his fourth T20I fifty in 32 balls before he smashed three sixes off Yuzvendra Chahal to virtually seal the chase.

Looking to finish it off with a six, he fell victim to Harshal Patel and in the very next over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Wayne Parnell to finish with a superb 4-0-13-4.

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Earlier, Indian batters found it tough to get going against some tight bowling display from South Africa to be restricted to a modest 148 for 6.

Shreyas Iyer (40) was the top-scorer for India while Ishan Kishan provided some early sparks (21-ball 34) but the hosts lost the momentum in the middle-overs under tough batting conditions.

The third T20I will be played in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.