Centurion, Feb 22 (IANS) After playing a crucial knock in the second Twenty20 International match which helped his team beat India by six wickets, South Africa skipper Jean-Paul Duminy (64 not out) said the team kept its composure while batting.

Chasing a formidable target of 189 runs on Wednesday night, the hosts romped home with eight balls to spare. The three-match series is now locked at 1-1.

Wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen brought up his maiden T20I half-century, producing an awe inspiring show of power hitting to plunder 69 runs off just 30 balls.

Duminy remained unbeaten on 64 runs off 40 balls with four boundaries and three sixes.

“At the toss, we spoke about this being a semi-final and taking the series to Newlands. We kept our composure with the bat after taking early wickets,” Duminy was quoted as saying by the International Cricket Council (ICC) website.

“I just thought the way Klaasen came and played with freedom, we kept up with the rate. It was raining pretty similarly in our innings as well but I was comfortable when we were ahead of the rate,” he added.

Duminy also said the key point of the match was when they took the top three wickets early.

“They (India) came at us but the key for us was taking the wickets and we got three up front. To chase down 189 is a pretty good effort. It’ll be nice to play in front of my home crowd (in the next match) and hopefully, we put up a spectacle there,” he added.

–IANS
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