South Africa Find a Way Through as Stubbs Steadies Chase to Level Series against India
South Africa were being outclassed by India’s spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi, but Tristan Stubbs’ unbeaten 47 off 41 balls helped the hosts overcome a tricky chase and secure a three-wicket victory in the second T20I against India.
Stubbs, who hails from Knysna and has played all his domestic and franchise cricket at St George’s Park, admitted he was “proper nervous” at the crease. However, the 23-year-old kept his composure to steer South Africa’s chase of 125, even as they slipped to 66 for 6 in the 13th over.
“I was just trying to breathe,” Stubbs said with a smile after the game. “It’s my favorite place to play cricket, and I was nervous, proper nervous, so I was just trying to control my breathing.”
Stubbs, whose mother’s birthday coincided with the match, had plenty of family and friends in the crowd who had driven down to the ground to celebrate.
“Normally there’s a whole bunch of them [his friends and family], probably I reckon 30 to 35 of them,” he said. “They come through normally once a year for the SA20 and they’ve made a trip now.”
Chakravarthy’s career-best figures of 5 for 17 had put South Africa in a precarious position, but Stubbs found an unlikely ally in Gerald Coetzee, with whom he shared an unbroken 42-run stand for the ninth wicket off just 20 balls to take the team over the line.
“Fortunately, the run rate never got away from us,” Stubbs said. “Once we lost the wickets, I had 30 in mind off the last three and then G [Coetzee] really came and played an innings to help that out and then, fortunately, we got over the line.”
Stubbs acknowledged that the South African batters were “out-skilled” by the Indian spinners on a surface that was “typically staying low.” However, he was pleased to stay till the end and take his side home.
“They both [Chakravarthy and Bishnoi] were doing just enough to beat you on either side,” he said. “It wasn’t easy to come in and just rotate even, let alone take them on. They are two of the best spinners in the world so when they are on, it’s really tough and they got the better of us in the middle there by just outskilling us.”
This has been a breakthrough year for Stubbs, who has scored a first-class triple-century, made his Test and ODI debuts, and played a key role in Sunrisers Eastern Cape’s second successive SA20 title. The youngster believes the longer format has helped his overall game, including his T20 performances.
“I really enjoy the longer format because you can spend more time in the middle without feeling like you need to play a big ball and I really enjoy the graft of batting long,” he said. “I think the longer form cricket just naturally helps your T20 game and the batsmanship and spending time in the middle and not having to make a play really helps the rest of the formats.”
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