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Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Akshay Gopalakrishnan
9.14pm Whew, one way or the other, that turned out to be entertaining. After SA seemed to be coasting along, thanks to a five-for from Tahir, who ran circles around the ground after each wicket as much as he ran circles around the Zimbabwe batsmen. And then, boom, a manic partnership that came out of nowhere, courtesy some smart, brutal hitting from PJ Moor and young Brandon Mavuta, who was also a hero with the ball. And after all that, Zimbabwe are still without a win on this tour. They have come close on more than one occasion now. Surely, they got to seize it at some point. Or one hopes.
Azweer: "Zimbabwe needs contribution from everyone to beat a very good team Like SA. Better play well next match. A win will get back the confidence. You have to work hard for that.."
Anubhav: "But I have concern for SA too....legacy of Kallis, Pollock,klusner, Donald decling too..can't see any player having decent capability..after AB retirement,I don't think they have any chance in WC'19.."
"I thought the total was just about par," says Hamilton Masakadza. "Definitely the bowlers have continued to do some good work. Batting is something we definitely need to work on. Losing three in the first six was always something difficult to bounce back from."
Imran Tahir's figures are the second best by a South African in T20 internationals. And he also goes past Dale Steyn as his country's leading wicket-taker in the format. For all that, he's Man of the Match.
"I'm really pleased. I don't take things for granted," he says. "Every opportunity I get to play for South Africa is an honour, just pleased to have been able to come out well. I practice mostly with the new ball to see if I can get more accurate if I get to bowl with the new ball. I'm a big believer that it's never too late to learn."
"The wicket got a bit slower, so we were thinking 155," says Faf du Plessis. "And there was a bit of dew, so the ball doesn't grip as much as in the first innings. Russie (van der Russen) batted really well, nice to have David bat well, and me too, obviously. He's got a knack for taking wickets. He sees the value of taking wickets upfront, like today when he got three in the first six. We didn't expect it to be this dewy. The wristspinners face a huge challenge, and it wasn't easy for the seamers as well. But you want your young bowlers to experience a challenge, and Ngidi came back brilliantly in the 16th over. We always knew during that partnership that one wicket was all we needed."
Right then, that concludes the presentations, and our coverage of this game. Hope you had fun. Do drop by for the second T20I on October 12. Until then, goodbye from myself and Sreshth.
PJ Moor c Jonker b Phehlukwayo 44 (46m 21b 1x4 5x6) SR: 209.52
KM Jarvis b Ngidi 0 (5m 3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Azweer: "@Anubhav: Am happy that they performed.. hope to see a win , at least one in this series"
After setting up South Africa's victory in the first T20I, the 29-year old batsman spoke of the experience gained from T20 leagues, and wanting to replicate his debut success
The 21-year-old legspinning-allrounder has changed the dynamics in virtually every passage of play he has been part of on Zimbabwe's tour of South Africa
SA were given a tiny scare when Moor and Mavuta gave Zimbabwe a late impetus, but a clinical bowling at the death skittled the visitors for 126
There is a mixture of youth and experience for the matches against Zimbabwe as the hosts look to build on a their one-day success
South Africa have lost more T20Is than they have won in the last two years, cycling through four captains and no less than 28 players
