India vs South Africa 2015, 1st Twenty20: Player Ratings

Duminy was the South African hero yesterday

South Africa

Hashim Amla - 7.5/10

Amla continued to prove that the IPL franchises might have made a mistake by not picking him for the T20 league, by providing a brisk start to the South African chase. Was unfortunate to be run out as he responded to De Villiers' call to attempt a second run.

AB de Villiers - 8/10

South Africa's decision to open with De Villiers is turning out to be a superb move. The maverick batsman provided the early fireworks and along with Amla, added 67 runs in the powerplay overs to help lay the foundation of the chase for the visitors. Scored a brilliant half-century before being deceived in the air by Ashwin.

Faf du Plessis - 6.5/10

Du Plessis couldn't do much with the bat as he became debutant Sreenath Aravind's first victim in international cricket. The South African skipper though won the crucial toss and marshalled his resources well.

JP Duminy - 9/10

One can only speculate on the outcome of the match had Bhuvneshvar Kumar's LBW appeal against Duminy in the 17th over rightfully stood. But there's no denying that Duminy rode on his luck and played a superb unbeaten knock of 68 runs from 34 balls and hit some hefty blows that made the real difference in the end. Rightly adjudged the Man of the Match

Farhaan Berhardien - 8/10

Played a superb supporting role to Duminy, forming an unbroken 105-run partnership for the 4th wicket that guided South Africa to victory. He did the scoring early on in the partnership as Duminy took his time to settle in.

David Miller -

Was a mere spectator in today's match. Didn't bowl and didn't get an opportunity with the bat either as Berhardien, who was promoted up the order ahead of Miller, finished the job along with Duminy

Chris Morris – 6.5/10

Morris was targeted by Kohli & Sharma early on as he was smashed for 28 runs in his first two overs. He did manage to pull himself back together a bit towards the end, but it still cannot take away the fact that Morris indeed had a bad day out at the office on Friday night.

Imran Tahir – 6/10

The South Africans might be having big hopes from Imran Tahir, but the leg-spinner disappointed in the series opener as he was taken apart by Rohit Sharma and Virat Sharma, who smashed him for 21 runs in an over.

Kagiso Rabada – 7/10

Started off impressively but then fell away as Rohit Sharma got stuck into him. It affected the youngster mentally as well as he got into an unnecessary altercation with India's centurion.

Marchant de Lange – 7/10

Another fast bowler who was distracted towards the end unnecessarily. Impressed with his purchase from the pitch early on, but was unable to stall the flow of runs when Rohit was in full flow.

Kyle Abbott – 9/10

Batsmen always overshadow the bowlers - The T20 series opener was no different as Abbott was the unheralded hero for South Africa in the victory yesterday. He should have got Rohit Sharma in the very first over but didn't let the disappointment get to him as he bowled economically while also picking up Rohit & Kohli in the same over, thus playing a crucial role in restricting the Indian total to a score of within 200.