South Africa defeated India in the first Paytm T20 international (T20I) in Arun Jaitley Stadium at Delhi. South Africa went one up in the 5 match series. After winning the toss, South Africa opted to bowl first but was made to chase a mighty total of 211 for a loss of 4 wickets in their quota of 20 overs.
However, South Africa chased down the total with five more balls to spare and won the match by seven wickets. Firstly it was not a great start from South Africa; India got off the mark by five wide’s. Indian Openers stood firm in the Powerplay, and India was 51 for no loss. While pulling one from Nortje, Ruturaj Gaikwad was dropped on 17 runs which went for six straight through the hands of Dwaine Pretorius and was caught on the very next ball by the South African Captain Temba Bavuma at Mid on. In the 11th over, Quinton De Kock missed stumping of Shreyas Iyer, who was looking in good touch. In the 3rd over of Keshav Maharaj, Ishan Kishan went off 20 of the first four balls but was also dismissed in the last ball of that dramatic over. India crossed 200 runs mark in the 19th Over, and in the end, it was a strong finish from Captain Rishabh Pant and Vice-Captain Hardik Pandya.
Dwaine Pretorius batted at number 3 and went big and banged three sixes in the first over of Hardik Pandya but was also out in the very next over of Harshal Patel. In the 15th Over, David Miller completed 50 off just 22 balls and joined 3rd in the list of Fastest 50 against India, 1st is 20 ball 50 by J Charles from West Indies, and 2nd is 21 ball 50 by Kumar Sangakkara from Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, a change of broken-bat completely changed the innings of Rassie van der Dussen as he started middling the ball. There was a massive change in his strike rate, and Miller took the back seat after watching his partner batting in such a way. After the first three wickets, South Africa registered an unbeaten stand of 131 runs off just 63 balls which helped South Africa go one up in the series.
The highest Scorer of the first Innings, Opening Batsman Ishan Kishan, said it was a good total because the “ball wasn’t coming properly” at the start, so they just planned to “watch the ball till the last moment and keep the shape going.” He thought 150 was a good total, and the job was to start hitting the right areas after that. He added that India should be able to defend it, “but cricket is a funny game, and anything can happen if 1 or 2 batters get going.”
The highest Scorer of the second innings and Man of the Match, David Miller, stated that, per his understanding of the game, a lot of hard work had gone in over the last few years. He and Rassie were planning to hang there when Rassie was trying but could not get over it. He was chuffed with the result.
211 by India was the highest total in the Arun Jaitley Stadium after the previous best of 202/3 in 20 overs by India against New Zealand back in 2017. But South Africa chased the total, and now 212 runs in 19.1 overs at the run rate of 11.06 is the new highest at this venue. Yesterday’s total of 212 was the Highest successful T20I run chase by South Africa, and their previous best was 206 versus West Indies at Johannesburg back in 2007. This was also the Highest successful T20I run chase against India, and the previous best was 200 by South Africa at Dharamshala in 2015. Unfortunately, India’s sequence of most consecutive wins in T20I ended yesterday, which lasted from Nov 2021 to Feb 2022. The unbeaten partnership of 131* by Rassie van der Dussan and David Miller was the second Highest fourth-wicket partnership in T20I. The first best is 161 runs partnership between David Warner and Glenn Maxwell against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2016.
India lost Captain KL Rahul and left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav one day before the match because of Injury; they both got ruled out of the series and are now at the NCA Bengaluru for recovery, and India hasn’t named their replacement yet. Whereas South Africa was left out Aiden Markram for this first match due to testing positive in the Covid-19 test. There was no pandemic related restrictions, and the Attendance at the Stadium was 41000. Rishabh Pant has been named the Indian Captain, becoming the second-youngest man to lead India in a T20I after Suresh Raina. Additionally, Wayne Parnell returns for the South African side after five years, and Dinesh Karthik returns for the Indian side after three years because of his outstanding performance in the latest edition of Tata IPL.