Opener Tony de Zorzi smashed an unbeaten 119 off 122 deliveries as South Africa bounced back to win the second One-Day International against India by eight wickets at the St George’s Park, Gqeberha on Tuesday.
South Africa chased down the target of 212 with more than seven overs to spare, after a 130-run opening stand between Zorzi and Reeza Hendricks (52).
Once Hendricks fell to Arshdeep Singh, who had taken a five-wicket haul in the opening ODI, Zorzi found an able ally in Rassie van der Dussen (36).
With both batters looking comfortable in the middle, Indian captain KL Rahul turned to debutant Rinku Singh to break the partnership. The off-spinner struck in his very first over to dismiss van der Dussen, but it was too little too late as the Proteas required just six more runs to win at the stage.
Skipper Aiden Markram then joined hands with de Zorzi to take his team over the line with no further hiccups.
Earlier in the day, India were asked to bat first after Markram won the toss for second time in as many games.
The men in blue got off to the worst possible start as opener Ruturaj Gaikwad fell to Nandre Burger with the second ball of the match after finding a boundary off the first.
Batting at number three, Tilak Varma struggled for his 30-ball 10, before Sai Sudharshan (62) and Rahul (56) stitched together the biggest partnership of the Indian innings. The duo added 68 runs to stabilise the innings but once Sudharshan was dismissed by Lizaad Williams, the rest of the batting order crumbled.
No Indian batter apart from Sudharshan and Rahul touched the 20-run mark in the innings, with pacer Arshdeep being the next highest scorer with 18 as they were bowled out for mere 211 in 46.2 overs.
Left-arm-pacer Burger, who was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for Rs 50 lakh in the 2024 Indian Premier League auction which was underway simultaneously, picked up three wickets for South Africa.
The three-match ODI series is now level at 1-1 with the decider slated to be played on Thursday at the Boland Park in Paarl.
