Ind vs SA, 1st T20I, 2022-23: Chahar, Arshdeep rattle SA, Surya scores another fifty; India 1-0 up
Updated: Sep 29, 2022
India vs South Africa, 1st T20I, Top Performances: Deepak Chahar-Arshdeep Singh share five-wickets, Suryakumar Yadav's 50 off 33 and Keshav Maharaj's 41 off 35 are top performances. India beat South Africa in 1st T20I and take 1-0 lead.
Brief Scores: South Africa 106-8 (Maharaj 41, Markram 25, Arshdeep 3-32) lost to India 110-2 (Rahul 51, Surya 50, Rabada 1-16) by 8 wickets
Player of the Match: Arshdeep Singh for 3-32
India’s new combination with the new ball - Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar - didn’t make them miss Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah with their swing bowling prowess. Arshdeep and Chahar’s role was well-defined and they both showcased their calibre with the new ball, taking five of South Africa’s frontline batters within the powerplay in Thiruvananthapuram.
India take 1-0 lead over South Africa
India jump from one bilateral T20I series to another in a span of four days, this time the opponents being South Africa. While Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will undergo training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), the rest of the squad pretty much remains intact.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first on a green top wicket. For India, Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh and Rishabh Pant were back in the squad. Surprisingly for South Africa, Heinrich Klaasen was benched.
The match was being played at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram and the pitch was literally green. India’s new ball bowlers - Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh - exploited the conditions by bowling some banana swingers which made South African batters dance to their tunes. Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and David Miller were clean bowled whereas, Rilee Roussouw and Tristan Stubbs were out caught. South Africa had no answers to the swinging deliveries as they were 5-9 within three overs. This was also the lowest total for South Africa after the loss of 5 wickets in T20Is. After the initial slaughter, Keshav Maharaj’s crucial 41 with the bat, along with 24 from Wayne Parnell helped South Africa post a total of 106 at the end of 20 overs.
Chasing 107 was not going to be a walk in the park for India as the pitch was offering lateral movement to the bowlers. After a cautious start, Rohit Sharma was dismissed on a duck by his match-up Kagiso Rabada, who has dismissed Sharma nine times in Test and ODI cricket but had not dismissed Rohit once in T20Is before Wednesday. Much like South Africa, India too were struggling with just 17 runs on the board after 6 overs, just the difference was the wicket column. This was also India’s lowest ever score in powerplays in T20Is. Soon, Virat Kohli was dismissed for three and India were reduced to 17-2.
KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav played sensible cricket, much like a Test match innings to begin with, later freeing their arms on loose deliveries and laid down a solid 93-run partnership for the fourth wicket to seal the game for India on a difficult bowler-friendly wicket. India chased down the target with 20 balls to spare to go one up in the three-match T20I series.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the first T20I between India and South Africa.