South Africa vs Pakistan, 2nd T20I at Johannesburg, SA v PAK, Apr 12 2021 - Ball by Ball Commentary

5.24 pm Well that was quite a walloping by the hosts to level the series at 1-1. Arguably the only blemish was that 12-ball, 18-run over in the 12th from Magala. But he more than made up for it at the death. Pakistan were clearly short of firepower without Fakhar Zaman in the lineup today due to sickness. The visitors have 48 hours to lick their wounds before coming back in the third match of this series on Wednesday.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam via translator: "Early wickets which we lost cost us the game. We didn't have partnerships. Credit to the South Africa bowlers. The aggression cost us the game. The players were not complacent. It was a new wicket and they bowled well. I have confidence in my team and we will do well in the next match."

Man of the Match George Linde: "It's never easy bowling in the Powerplay as a spinner. We had a couple of game plans and I'm just glad it worked out well for us. Personally it was a big confidence booster because I didn't bowl that well the previous game. When I got that, I was just trying to keep that momentum. I thought the surface was okay. If you look at the way Markram played up front, the shots showed the wicket wasn't bad. We chased it down in 14 overs so it was a good game for us all-round. We sat down and looked at video footage on how to get better and was visualizing a lot yesterday. That gets me into the moment of the game."

South Africa captain Heinrich Klaasen: "Our execution was spot on. One or two overs maybe started slowly but the guys begged me for another opportunity to execute. Magala asked me for another over after his first one. He told me, 'I'm your guy today,' and he proved me right. The wicket is good. It still for me was a 180-190 wicket. I thought our bowlers bowled extremely well today and the message was to be positive. We wanted to play aggressive but smart cricket, not cowboy cricket. We did it in Pakistan previously where everyone just had a hack and that's not what it's all about. Sometimes you have to be smarter and not too much cowboy and have hacks. We wanted to get it in 14 or 15 overs because that's what the wicket was telling us and not what the scoreboard showed. At the end of the day, all of the guys in the team are quality players. After the guys at the IPL left, the next guys wanted to get an opportunity to execute."

That's it for today. Come back on Wednesday afternoon for the third match in this T20I series. For Alan Gardner, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!