In the first T20 match of the South Africa tour of India 2022, India beat South Africa by eight wickets at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first. The decision worked out well for the Men in Blue as they successfully restricted the visitors to just 106/8 in 20 overs. Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar were at their best as both the bowlers troubled SA batters well enough.
In the second innings, the home side also had a terrible start as captain Rohit and Virat Kohli, both lost their wicket in quick succession. It was KL Rahul (51*) and Suryakumar Yadav (50*) who took the game to the end and comprehensively finished the game by winning comprehensively. The opening batter started off in a composed manner and steadily took off towards the latter half of the inning. Rahul smashed five sixes and just two fours to guide India towards the victory line. From the other end, Suryakumar Yadav also hit three sixes and five fours that too at a strike rate of over 150. Both the batters finished off the game in just 16.4 overs.
While setting up the target, South Africa had a horrible start to their tour to India as their wickets fell like a crumbling cookie straightaway in the first few overs. Aiden Markram (25) scored some runs in the middle overs and with him, Keshav Maharaj (41) also hammered some valuable runs which took them to a respectable score.
Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar were lethal in the powerplay as the left-arm pacer bagged three wickets, while the latter picked two wickets. Along with them, Harshal Patel claimed two wickets and Axar Patel also got one wicket.
For SA, one wicket each was taken by Tabraiz Shamsi and Kagiso Rabada.
Arshdeep Singh was awarded the Man of the Match award for his exhilarating bowling performance. Following this win, India acquired the series lead by 1-0.
Scorecard:
South Africa: 106/8, Overs 20, Keshav Maharaj 41, Arshdeep Singh 3/32
India: 110/2, Overs 16.4, KL Rahul 51, Kagiso Rabada 1/16