IND vs SA, 1st T20I: Van der Dussen, Miller lead South Africa to 7-wicket win
Riding on stellar batting performances from Rassi van der Dussen and David Miller, South Africa chased down 212 to claim a seven-wicket victory in the first T20I against India at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday. Miller scored 64 runs in 31 balls while van der Dussen scored 75 runs in 46 balls. Both shared a 131-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Axar Patel took one wicket each for India. Barring Avesh Khan, all five Indian bowlers conceded runs at an economy of more than 10.
Rassie van der Dussen → 75* off 46 balls
David Miller → 64* off 31 balls
How cool were these two?! #INDvSA | https://t.co/EAEI2MRCT2 pic.twitter.com/BJiMOITS0o
— ICC (@ICC) June 9, 2022
Earlier, Ishan Kishan scored 76 runs while Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya put the finishing touches to take India to a mammoth score of 211/4 in 20 overs. On a pitch where the bowlers found some help, Kishan, Pant and Pandya played a scintillating innings to set up the highest score for India against South Africa in T20Is. Asked to bat, India scored 51 runs from the power-play, a mixture of luck and some brilliant shots in their favor. Keshav Maharaj went for 13 runs in his opening over, an outside edge of Kishan’s bat hitting short third man, while the very next ball, the left-hander danced across the pitch from over extra cover.
Luck continued to favor India as Ruturaj Gaikwad tried to hook, but Enrich Nortje’s pace drove the top lead over fine leg. Both Nortje and Rabada were able to hit the edge of the bat with a bounce behind some off-sized and long balls. But India went ahead with some brilliant stroke play as Kishan kept a straight drive down the field and was in luck when Rabada slammed it for a boundary but the outside edge ran through third man.
Nortje came forward to attack in the final over of the power-play as Kishan slammed him for a boundary – a late cut went through third man, followed by a drive drilled through the gap on the off-side. After the powerplay, Gaikwad fell when he bowled a bridge over mid-off to Parnell. However, Kishan continued to accelerate with a boundary – a punch through the off-side was passed by a brutal drive to Dwayne Pretorius. Shreyas Iyer started by hitting six sixes, coming down the pitch and collecting Tabrez Shamsi thrice at long-on. He got life on 25 when Quinton de Kock missed Maharaj’s stumping.
Kishan completed his fifty in 37 balls and dragged Maharaj for a powerful slog-sweep for six at mid-wicket. He further ripped off Maharaj in the 13th over, collecting back-to-back sixes with slog sweeps and twice pulling it over the mid-wicket fence. Kishan hits consecutive boundaries, lofts over the bowler’s head and hits a flat hit on the ground. But Maharaj had the last laugh as Kishan leaps for long-on. Iyer scored 28 off 15 balls and suffered a slump for 36 off 27 balls before being bowled by an off-cutter from Pretorius.
Pant, who garnered a lot of applause from the home crowd, started by hitting Parnell for a straight boundary. He then smashed Pretorius for a six in the 17th over, followed by another six while avoiding long-on and closed the over for four with a slice over cover. Pandya, his deputy, conceded four runs to Parnell at mid-wicket followed by six with a short-arm jab at long-on. Rabada was infuriating for Pandya in the 19th over when the right-hander hit a six at long-on and smashed a yorker at short fine leg to make India’s 200. Nortje caught Pant in the final over for cover in front of Pandya. Smashed a six at long-on to help India post the highest T20I score at this venue.