Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Dhawan overpowers South Africa
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The first T20 international between India and South Africa saw a jam-packed crowd at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. After being put into bat by South Africa, India had a great start. Unlike its strategy of playing cautiously in the powerplay overs, the Indian batsmen took the attack to the South African bowlers.
Rohit Sharma, 21 runs from 8 balls, got out after hitting two fours and two sixes. Suresh Raina who joined the team, score 15 runs from 7 balls, with two fours and a six. It was Shikhar Dhawan’s show all through the innings. He scored a blistering 70 from just 39 balls, with 2 sixes and 10 fours. With Dhoni and Pandya adding final touches, India finished its innings at 203/5 in 20 overs.
South Africa was under pressure from the word go. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar provided the first breakthrough in the 3rd over after JT Smuts skied a knuckleball trying to flick it off his pads. The Proteas did show some resilience, with Behardien (39) and Hendricks (70), adding 81 runs for the fourth wicket. After Behardien was sent back by Chahal, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar’s 4 wickets in the 18th over meant that India was home. South Africa ended at 175/9, which Bhuvaneshwar Kumar taking 5/24.
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar becomes the first Indian bowler to have 5-wicket haul in all three forms of the game; Test (4times), ODI (1 time) and now T20s.
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