After a flurry of runs in the series against Australia, India and South Africa were taken aback by the serious pace and bounce on the Greenfield Stadium track. Not a lot of runs were scored eventually, but the batters from both sides were put to a stern test as India clinched a one-sided victory to go 1-0 up in the series.
Rohit Sharma got lucky with the coin toss and put South Africa into bat first. The visitors were off to a disastrous start, losing as many as five wickets in just 15 balls. After Deepak Chahar cleaned up Temba Bavuma in the first over, Arshdeep Singh dismissed Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and David Miller in the second.
A short little partnership with Aiden Markram and Wayne Parnell got the side running, but the scoring rate remained under five for a large part of the game. After Markram fell for a 24-ball 25, Keshav Maharaj took charge of the innings and contributed with a vital knock.
South Africa got a solid finish, with Maharaj scoring 18 runs off Arshdeep’s 19th over. They scored 106 runs for the loss of eight wickets as Maharaj finished with an unbeaten 41 off 35 deliveries. For India, Arshdeep picked up three wickets, whilst Chahar and Harshal Patel picked up a couple of wickets each.
India did not get off to an ideal start with the bat, losing Rohit Sharma for a duck. Virat Kohli didn’t stick for a long period of time either, which added a little drama to the dead run chase. KL Rahul took his time to settle in and scored just 15 runs in the opening 36 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav, however, provided the much-needed reprise to the otherwise struggling batting order. He hit two sixes in the first three deliveries and continued the momentum. Rahul slowly started getting in the groove and started to bring the required rate down.
Both batters completed their half-centuries before reaching the target. India completed the runchase in 16.4 overs, with Suryakumar finishing on a 33-ball 50 and Rahul scoring a 56-ball 51.
Brief Scores
South Africa: 106/8 in 20 overs (Keshav Maharaj 41; Arshdeep Singh 3/32, Deepak Chahar 2/24)
India: 110/2 in 16.4 overs (KL Rahul 51*, Suryakumar Yadav 50*)
India won by eight wickets
Player of the Match: Arshdeep Singh
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