India vs. South Africa: Winners and Losers from 1st T20
South Africa have a 0-1 series lead over hosts India after winning the opening Twenty20 by seven wickets with just two balls remaining.
It was a mammoth effort from both teams, with the batsmen dominating proceedings. If this has set the tone for the rest of the tour, we're in for a corker.
We’ve picked some winners and losers, add your own in the comments.
Loser: Quinton de Kock
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Quinton de Kock looked like a fish out of water when South Africa played Bangladesh recently.
He was subsequently dropped and sent off on a South African A-team tour to India. He responded by scoring three centuries, but he will clearly not be rushed back into the team.
AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla opened the batting in the first T20, and if this is a long-term strategy for the Proteas, we’ll probably find out on this tour.
Loser: South Africa’s Bowlers
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South Africa’s second-string bowlers are absolutely clobbered. Even the usually tidy Imran Tahir was sent flying all around the ground, so much so that he didn't even complete his quota of four overs.
Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada did well to keep their economy rates at 7.25 and 8.00, respectively, but the SA bowling attacking clearly lacked inspiration.
Winner: Rohit Sharma
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Central to the South African bowlers copping a pasting was Rohit Sharma. He notched up a thrilling T20 century to help India post a massive total.
Sharma has had a decent year in limited overs cricket (he averages over 50.00 in ODIs) and is now carrying that form into the T20 format.
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Winner: The Crowd
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This T20 series might not mean much in terms of qualification for next year’s World T20 (both teams have already qualified), but the crowd was treated to a humdinger that went down to the last over.
While the bowling was quite poor, it was an epic display of batting.
Winner: AB de Villiers
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It's been said time and time again, but having your best batsman face as many balls as possible is always a good idea.
AB de Villiers opened the batting and set the foundation for South Africa's chase with 51 off 32.
Winner: Ravichandran Ashwin
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Ravichandran Ashwin was by far the most impressive of all the bowlers. His economy rate on the day was just 6.50.
Although he picked up just one wicket, it was an incredible effort to keep things so tidy when the batsmen were having a field day.
Winner: JP Duminy
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South Africa needed somebody to see their innings through, and JP Duminy was that player. His epic effort, an unbeaten 68 off 34, saw South Africa home.
It was just one of those days where everything seemed to go right for Duminy, but he could not have done it without Farhaan Behardien at the other end.
Behardien recently played two very good knocks against New Zealand in a one day series, and those efforts seem to have turned him into the player that everyone had believed he could be.
Duminy might have been the star, but Behardien certainly played a starring role.
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