JP Duminy's masterclass knock helps South Africa chase down 199 to beat India in the 1st T20I

Duminy proved his T20 credentials with a match-winning knock

JP Duminy proved why he is considered one of the most dangerous T20 batsmen in the world as he guided South Africa to victory in the first T20I at Dharamsala. The visitors overcame India’s score of 199 with two balls to spare and seven wickets in hand as Rohit Sharma's splendid century earlier in the day ended up in a losing cause.

AB de Villiers had provided the early fireworks for the visitors, but it was Duminy’s knock of 68 from 34 balls that finished off the job just when India were threatening to stage a late fightback.

South Africa got their innings off to a flying start with De Villiers especially harsh on the Indian pace bowlers as the visitors scored 67 in the powerplay overs. The Proteas looked to be running away with the game at that stage but were pegged back by the spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin who bowled outstandingly to bring India back into the match.

Amla, who had a reprieve in the seventh over of the South African innings as Dhoni failed to hold on to a thick edge off Axar Patel’s bowling, failed to make it count however as he was run out in the following over. Bhuvneshwar came in from the fine leg boundary to aim a perfect throw at the non-striker's end as Amla found himself short of the crease.

De Villiers was deceived in the air by Ashwin who slowed down the ball brilliantly to clatter the stumps. Sreenath Aravind, making his T20 debut in the match, was brought back into the attack despite being smashed for 28 runs in his opening two overs and it turned out to be an inspiring move by Dhoni as he dismissed Du Plessis to shift the momentum in India’s favour.

The unbeaten 105-run 4th wicket partnership between JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien, the latter promoted up the order ahead of David Miller, however, took the game away from India as India were unable to pick up any further wickets. Duminy got a lucky escape as Bhuvneshwar had him plumb in front of the wickets, but the umpire felt otherwise.

Duminy was happy to let his partner do the scoring early on but showed his experience and class to guide the visitors to victory, aptly scoring the winning runs as well.

Earlier in the day, with dew set to be a crucial factor in the match’s outcome, South African skipper Faf du Plessis, who won the toss had no hesitation in sending India to bat. The hosts recovered from the early loss of Shikhar Dhawan to post 199 in their allotted 20 overs as Rohit Sharma became only the second Indian to score a century in all three formats of the game. The Mumbaikar started off tentatively surviving a close leg before wicket appeal in the very first over but once he got into the grove there was no stopping him.

Rohit Sharma produced a classy knock of 106 from 66 balls

Rohit & Kohli added 138 runs for the 2nd wicket – India’s highest in T20 history – and it looked at one stage that a score of 220-230 was very much on the cards. The duo’s dismissal however in the 16th over by Kyle Abbott, who was the pick of the South African bowlers, with figures of 4-029-2, slowed down the Indian innings as they eventually ended up one run short of the 200-run mark.

The drying up of runs towards the end proved to be costly in the end as the visitors were able to chase down the target, much to the disappointment of the packed crowd.

Scorecard:

South Africa won the toss and decided to field first

India 199/5 (20 overs) – Rohit Sharma 106(66), Virat Kohli 43(27); Kyle Abbott 2/29

South Africa 200/3 (19.4 overs) – JP Duminy 68(34), De Villiers 51(32); R Ashwin 1/26

South Africa won by 7 wickets; lead T20 series 1-0