India vs South Africa, 1st T20I Stats Review: David Miller’s first duck in T20Is, Suryakumar Yadav’s feat, and other stats

Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar blew South Africa’s top-order away in the first T20I in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, September 28 as both pacers reduced the visitor’s score to 9/5 in just 2.3 overs with their seam and swing. Keshav Maharaj then registered his highest individual score of 41 in T20Is while coming to bat at no. eight and took South Africa's total to 106/8 in 20 overs.

Suryakumar Yadav continued his rich vein of form while KL Rahul also contributed handsomely as both smashed unbeaten half-centuries to win the first of the three T20I matches by eight wickets.

Speaking about how the opening fixture panned out, skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first. Arshdeep and Chahar launched an onslaught on the tourists with their solid display of swing bowling. Rilee Rossouw, David Miller, and youngster Tristan Stubbs all registered golden ducks.

Aiden Markram looked set to control the South African innings before falling prey to Harshal Patel at 25 off 24 balls. Wayne Parnell scored 24 while Maharaj’s innings helped the Proteas to go past the 100-run mark. Arshdeep finished with figures of 3/32 while Chahar took 2/24 in their respective four-over spells.

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t look like giving away runs either as he conceded only eight in his full quota of overs. Harshal and Axar Patel snared two and one scalps respectively as India’s bowlers put on a solid performance.

In reply, captain Rohit grabbed a duck while Virat Kohli managed to score only three off nine balls. The Men in Blue registered their lowest powerplay score of 17/1 in T20I history with their previous lowest of 21/3 coming against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2016.

But Suryakumar and Rahul then joined hands to stitch an unbeaten 93-run partnership to guide their side to a comfortable victory at the end. While Suryakumar struck 50* off 33 with five fours and three maximums, Rahul hit 51* off 56 which included two fours and four maximums to help India take a 1-0 in the series. Suryakumar has now slammed the most runs (732) for India and most sixes overall (45) in T20Is in a calendar year.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 1^st T20I between India and South Africa:

1 – For the first time, David Miller got dismissed for a duck in 91 T20I innings. His streak of going 90 innings without a duck finally got broken.

732 – Suryakumar Yadav has now scored the most runs (732) for India in T20 internationals in a calendar year. He went past Shikhar Dhawan’s tally of 689 runs aggregated in the year 2018.

8 – R Ashwin conceded his joint-lowest runs (eight) in a T20I innings. He conceded as many runs by picking up four wickets against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam in the year 2016.

17/1 – India scripted their lowest powerplay score of 17/1 in T20I history. Their previous lowest was 21/3 against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2016.

46 – Quinton de Kock has scored just 46 runs in his last seven innings at a poor average of 6.57 and a strike rate of 86.79 with the highest score of 15.

45 – Suryakumar has now smashed the most maximums (45) in a calendar year. He surpassed Mohammad Rizwan’s tally of 42 sixes in the year 2021.

106/8 – South Africa recorded their second-lowest total of 106/8 against India in T20Is.  Their previous lowest of 87 all-out came earlier this year in Rajkot.

6.40 – Rohit Sharma has scored 32 runs in his last five innings at an average of just 6.40 against South Africa.

9 – South Africa registered the lowest score (nine) at the fall of the fifth wicket amongst the full-members in a T20I innings. The previous lowest was also by South Africa when they had scored ten against West Indies in Gqeberha in the year 2007.

5 – For the fifth time, India managed to pick five wickets in the powerplay in a T20 international. The other four instances came against the Proteas in 2007, Sri Lanka in 2016, West Indies in 2019, and Afghanistan in 2022.

41 – Keshav Maharaj recorded the highest score (41) for South Africa batting at no. eight or lower in T20Is. Juan Theron previously amassed 31* against Australia in Johannesburg in 2011. Maharaj’s 41 is also the highest against India at that batting position.

12 – de Kock has now gone 12 innings without a half-century in the format. His last fifty came against Sri Lanka in Colombo (RPS) in 2021.