South Africa vs India 2018: 1st T20I, 5 things we learnt from the match
Helped by an aggressive half-century from Shikhar Dhawan and a five-wicket haul from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India thrashed South Africa by 28 runs at the Wanderers in the first T20I of the three match series. Opting to bowl first, South Africa were short with their lengths and watched helplessly as India raced to their highest ever T20I power-play score of 78. Dhawan carried on although Tabraiz Shamsi gave the Proteas a bit of relief by dismissing Virat Kohli cheaply.
Though the visitors did not finish with a flourish, 204 was always going to be a stiff target for a depleted South African unit. Reeza Hendricks began well for the hosts and slammed a superb 70 but found little company except for Farhaan Behardien who made 39. Bhuvneshwar picked up three in an over at the end to seal the match for India.
Here are the 5 things we learnt from the match.
#5 Rohit Sharma starts with a bang but falls quickly
Rohit Sharma is known for his peculiar style of batting, which involves watching the ball carefully in the first few overs, then increasing the tempo ever so slowly, before going into hit-everything-for-a-six mode. On Sunday at the Wanderers, the Indian opener switched his approach completely.
A wayward Dane Paterson was bowling way too short and Rohit latched onto an upper cut for six off the second ball of the match and then hit another pull for six off the fifth, before ending with a four to take 18 in the over. He hit one more four in the next over before falling to Junior Dala, the debutant, for a 9-ball 21.