India 203 for 5 (Dhawan 72, Dala 2-47) beat South Africa 175 for 9 (Hendricks 70, Behardien 39, Bhuvneshwar 5-24) by 28 runs
JOHANNESBURG: On a flat pitch, in the thin air of the Highveld, and against a South African attack missing a number of its biggest names, India’s batsmen piled up 203 for 5, and that total proved more than adequate against a South African line-up missing a number of its biggest names. A 28-run win, with starring roles for Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, gave India a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series, but they may not have left the Wanderers entirely thrilled about their performance, particularly with the bat.
India’s batting in T20s often seems more risk-averse than the format demands, built on a platform-setting template borrowed from ODIs. This inning was different. Short and wide bowling from Dane Paterson to Rohit Sharma allowed them to plunder 18 from the first over, but they kept going after the bowling even when it wasn’t so charitable. Suresh Raina took it to an extreme, exposing all his stumps and slogging at everything to score a chancy 15 off 7 at No. 3, and Dhawan also kept going hard, his top-edged hoicks over the keeper making the same impact on the scorecard as his pristinely timed flicks over square leg or slaps either side of point.
This approach, aided by the bang-it-in tactics of South Africa’s seamers, who didn’t vary their pace nearly as much as they could have, brought India 78 runs in the Powerplay.
