Wayne Parnell made his South Africa comeback, during the five-match series vs India, after more than 1800 days. The pacer, who last played a T20I in June 2017 against England played a key role in South Africa’s success in both games played against Rishabh Pant and co. 

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In the second T20I in Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium, Parnell finished with one wicket for 23 runs in his four overs. He cleaned India’s vice-captain Hardik Pandya and sent him off with a heart sign. 

In the 13th over, when South Africa were choking India with regular wickets, Parnell went with a seamed up delivery to beat Pandya with inward movement and the lack of bounce. The batter tried to cut it but missed the ball. He was dismissed for nine runs in 12 balls with one boundary to his name. 

Also read: 2nd T20I: Why Quinton de Kock is not playing for South Africa vs India

After dismissing Pandya, Parnell looked at him and made a heart sign, the meaning of which is currently not known. 

Watch:

Meanwhile,the Indian batters struggled 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 on a two-paced track.

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That in-form finisher Dinesh Karthik was sent way down at No 7, behind Axar Patel, also made it difficult for the Rishabh Pant-led India, who are trailing 0-1 in the series.

Karthik, team’s designated ‘finisher ‘ (30 not out from 21 balls) smashed two sixes and two fours to give the total some semblance of respectability.

Teams:

India: Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (captain), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan.

South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma (captain), Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.