(Cricket news) South Africa defeated India by 7 wickets in the first T20I. The Proteas completed their highest chase ever in the format and that too with 5 balls to spare. It was a difficult day for both sets of bowlers but in the end the visitors made the home wide look about 10-15 runs short. David Miller was awarded the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten 64 off just 31 balls which led South Africa to a memorable victory. Unfortunately for India they missed out on the world record for the most consecutive T20I wins.
After losing the toss India were put into bat first and they managed to put a mammoth 211 runs on the board. Ishan Kishan was the star of the innings as he scored an incredible 76 off 48 balls. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Hardik all contributed with the bat. Pandya was seen playing attacking cricket with the willow after a very long time. Both the openers made the most out of the powerplay. Keshav Maharaj, Wayne Parnell, Anrich Nortje and Dwaine Pretorius were the wicket takers. Maharaj and Shamzi were hit all over the place by Kishan and Iyer as they leaked a combined total of 70 runs in 5 overs.
The wicket was on the slower side as the ball wasn't coming on to the bat. Skipper Temba Bavuma at the toss said that he expects the wicket to get better in the second innings and that is exactly what happened. Despite losing both the openers early the Proteas managed to chase down the target with 5 balls and 7 wickets to spare. Pretorius, who was promoted to number 3 scored 29 off just 13 balls. He made the most out of the power play before being completely fooled by Harshal Patel's slower delivery. Rassie Van der dussen and David Miller stitched a match winning 131 run partnership. Van der Dussen struggled a lot at the start but Miller's power hitting made up for it. Shreyas Iyer dropped his catch off Avesh Khan's bowling when he was on 29 off 30 and he accelerated from there finishing with a score of 75 off 46.
India did get enough runs on the board but the Proteas chased it very well. The pitch got drastically better to bat in the 2nd innings. It was Rishabh Pant's first game as captain and it had a few questionable decisions. The bowling changes weren't the best as it turned out. The team's lead spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was given only 2 full overs even when the team desperately needed a breakthrough. The Indian team management may be forced into making a change or two by bringing in Arshdeep Singh and/or Umran Malik. BCCI could also name replacements for KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav before the next match.
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