By: Sports DeskUpdated: December 11, 2025 10:48 PM IST 3 min readSouth Africa's Marco Jansen celebrates an India wicket. (Express Photo | Kamleshwar Singh)Tilak Varma scored a half century but the Indian top order failed again as the men in Blue lost to South Africa by 51 runs in Mullanpur on Thursday. The India captain Suryakumar Yadav and vice-captain Shubman Gill failed to make an impact once again for the second match running, scoring just 5 and 0 respectively.Last match’s hero Hardik Pandya also had a forgettable day with the bat and the ball, chipping in with 20 runs and conceding 34 runs in his 3 allotted overs without any wicket. An in-form Abhishek Sharma also couldn’t fare much better, scoring 17 which laid bare India’s reliance on him. Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma tried to get a move on with Tilak in the middle but the run rate was too much for the duo to overcome.Earlier, Quinton de Kock made an effortless 90 of 46 balls, firing South Africa to a challenging 213 for four. When in full flow, De Kock is among the most attractive batters in the game and he flaunted his special skills on a true pitch. He was mainly dealing in sixes in the middle and majority of his seven maximums came in the deep square leg region.De Kock, who recently reversed his ODI retirement and was not sure about his T20 future post the World Cup last year, is back with a renewed purpose and remains on top of his game. An innings like this just less than a week before the mini auction will also create the buzz among the franchises, who might indulge in a bidding war for the multi-skilled cricketer.It was a no brainer that India decided to put South Africa in to bat after winning a rare toss.Arshdeep Singh, who had De Kock caught behind in the series opener, was at the receiving end on Thursday.De Kock began the assault with a pick up shot for six off Arshdeep before pulling the left-arm pacer for a maximum over deep mid-wicket.Story continues below this adJasprit Bumrah too conceded 16 runs in his second over after being disdainfully pulled for six by Reeza Hendricks. The right-hander missed a skidder from Varun Chakravarthy in the following over to give India a welcome breakthrough but De Kock maintained the pressure on the opposition, taking his team to 53-1 in the powerplay.Brought back into the attack in 11th over, Arshdeep lost his usual calm under pressure after being smashed for a six down the ground by De Kock. The Indian pacer tried to bowl wide yorkers from thereon but failed miserably and ended up bowling as many as seven wides in a 18-run over.The South African opener looked certain to cross the 100-run mark for the second time in his T20 career but was run out in a bizarre fashion by wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma after attempting a non existent single.The big hits kept coming even after de Kock’s fall with Donavan Ferreria (30 not off 16) and David Miller (20 not out off 12) doing the damage in the death overs.Story continues below this adArshdeep’s new ball partner Bumrah too had an off day and conceded 18 runs in the 20th over after being hammered for two towering sixes by Ferreira.India leaked 123 runs in the last 10 overs.(With agency inputs)Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:India Vs South Africa