India crushed South Africa by 101 runs in the first game of the five-match T20I series at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack to take a 1-0 lead in the series. After the match, India captain Suryakumar Yadav credited the batters for taking the team to a decent score after losing three early wickets.
In the post-match presentation, Surya said: “I told at the toss that we were 50-50, but very happy to bat first. I mean, absolutely. At 48 for 3, and then from there getting to 175… the way Hardik batted, Axar batted, Tilak batted, and in the end Jitesh coming in, chipping in and doing his role, I think it was very important. At first, we thought we’d get to 160, but then 175 was unbelievable. I mean, absolutely. I mean, batting first, 48 for 3 and then scoring about 90-91 runs from overs 7 to 15, and then finishing with 40-44 runs in the last five overs to get to 175… I think it was really, really commendable. The way we bowled, the amount of options we had, I think 175 was quite decent.”
South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl. India lost both their openers and the captain within the seventh over. After that, there were four small but important partnerships that took the team to a good total of 175/6 in 20 overs. Hardik Pandya played a gem of an innings, scoring an unbeaten 59 off 28 balls.
Surya also gave credit to the bowlers, who bundled out the South African team for just 74 runs in 12.3 overs.
“I think Arshdeep and Bumrah were the perfect bowlers to bowl at the start. But then Hardik coming in later on, coming back from injury, it was important to take care of him as well. And the way he bowled, I’m very happy with it,” he added.
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