'He's not going to change the approach' - Dale Steyn praises Suryakumar Yadav for not altering batting template after captainship

The first T20I of the three-match series between South Africa and India, in Gqeberha, on Tuesday, December 12, turned out to be a rain-curtailed affair where the hosts won via DLS method, with five wickets and seven balls to spare.

Suryakumar Yadav, who led India for the first time during the recent home T20I series against Australia, played a vintage knock in the first innings. The swashbuckling batter scored 56 runs off 36 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes. Former South African speedster Dale Steyn lauded Suryakumar for not changing his batting approach after taking up the captaincy role for the 'Men in Blue'.

“We spoke about him just after the break. He's got a lot of shots, and he makes it look really easy. Sometimes it's a burden being a captain. There's a lot that you have to think of, and it can sometimes change the way in which you play your game,” Steyn said while speaking to Star Sports after the match.

“He walked out there at six for two and he was still able to continue striking it for almost 200. That shows you that he's not going to change the style in which he scores his runs. He's not going to change the approach. And that looks like a good thing for India going forward because you know that he's always going to be aggressive and the opposition are not going to be able to run in there and do what they want to do,” Steyn added.

Rinku Singh's heroics go in vain as South Africa take 1-0 lead in T20Is

After Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to bowl first, Indian openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill departed without scoring. Half-centuries from Suryakumar and Rinku Singh helped the tourists get to a decent score of 180/7 in 19.3 overs before rain stopped play. When play resumed, there was no time left for India to come out to bat again as Rinku remained unbeaten on 68 off 39 balls.

The revised target for the Proteas was 152 in 15 overs. The Indian bowlers struggled to grip the ball as it got wet every time it was hit out along the ground. South Africa went on to chase the target with relative ease thanks to cameos from Reeza Hendricks and Markram. David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, and Andile Phehlukwayo also chipped in at the death. The third and final T20I takes place in Johannesburg on Thursday, December 14.