South African captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to bowl first in the 1st T20I game of the 5-match series. It was onto the new pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan to give the Indian team a flying start against the experienced South African bowling lineup.
READ: South Africa win the toss and bowl first in the 1st T20I, Dinesh Karthik included in the playing XI
Both the Indian openers were steady during the initial couple of overs but once they got their eyes set in the crease, They took on the bowlers to all parts of the ground and made full use of the powerplay overs.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was playing the role of the aggressor but he was soon dismissed by Wayne Parnell on 23 runs.
Wayne Parnell, who was making a comeback to the South African team after 5 years bowled a tight over in the powerplay in which he conceded only 1 run. During his 2nd over, Ruturaj Gaikwad smacked Parnell for a six on his first ball but Wayne Parnell took his revenge by dismissing him on the very next ball.
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Ishan Kishan was joined by Shreyas Iyer and from the word go, the duo attacked the bowlers even after powerplay overs and managed to score more than 10 runs in every over.
In the 13th over bowled by Keshav Maharaj, Ishan Kishan scored 20 runs before getting dismissed off the final delivery of that over. Ishan Kishan scored 76 runs off 48 deliveries in this match.
Thanks to Hardik Pandya's quickfire 30 and Ishan Kishan's 76 of 48 balls, India sets a target of 212 runs.
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