"There's no right or wrong in cricket and you trust the players to come up with their own gameplans" - KL Rahul

Team India lost the second ODI to South Africa at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on December 19, Tuesday. South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl and their decision worked for them. Despite the fifties from Sai Sudharsan and KL Rahul, India could manage 211 before getting all out.

While chasing, Tony de Zorzi smashed an unbeaten 119 and Reeza Hendricks scored 52 and helped South Africa win convincingly.

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Who said what after the match?

KL Rahul | India captain: “Probably win the toss, there was a bit of help in the wicket in the 1st half. It was a hard wicket but having said that Sai and I were set, had we gone on and made a big 100, we could have got 50-60 extra and those are learnings we will take from here. Had we got 240 would have been good but unfortunately we lost wickets at regular intervals and they had help from the wicket.

We trust in each individual’s games and each individual’s gameplan and what they feel is comfortable with – that’s what we tell them, there’s no right or wrong in cricket and you trust the players to come up with their own gameplans. There was a bit of help in the first 10 overs and we beat the bat a lot, one edge we did not hold on to, had we taken that we could have put pressure on them. We leave what happens on the ground and try and focus on the next one.”

Tony de Zorzi | Player of the Match: “I’m fine. Just a bit stiff. Was a flood of emotions to be honest, I first thought of my mom, she would have been back from work, there are a lot of doubters and happy to prove them wrong. Rob and JP spoke to me on what they kind of expected from me at the top of the order. At the Wanderers would have been nice to extend it. I would say adaptable and decent at adapting to conditions. [has it sunk in yet?] Probably not – was quite cool to go to the band and everyone is clapping there, I will never forget a moment like this.”

Aiden Markram | South Africa captain: “A lot better than a couple of days ago. Much better all-round performance. Was still quite a tough wicket when we went to chase and the openers to fight like that was great. The breeze played quite a bit of a factor. Nandre is wasted from the top end with the wind blowing behind his back. Might as well see him bowl rockets. Chopped and changed a lot today and bowled great areas and execution was great. We did that in the middle overs and carried through the end.

The ball was moving around even now. Not a 300 wicket, but a high 200 wicket is my guess but I could be completely wrong. [on de Zorzi] It was huge from him, only played a couple of games, to be not out like that and to see the chase over the line is a special feat from him. Hope he enjoys it tonight and the whole dressing room was in awe of him, the way he constructed the innings. Hopefully the first of many. [on the loss at Wanderers] We can’t accept performances like that and that’s the first thing we addressed. With bat on hand we let ourselves down, whatever they set today, the mindset was to chase it down. A much more confident unit after today.”