Twitter Reactions: Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar take India 1-0 up in the series

Team India absolutely outplayed South Africa in the ODI series. When the hosts had thumped the Indian team 2-1 in the Test series, not many had backed the chances of the Indian team in the limited overs. But the Virat Kohli-led side showed great composure and temperament to bounce back strongly. They beat the South African team in the ODI series with a crushing 5-1 scoreline.

Riding high on confidence, they arrived at the Wanderers, Johannesburg, for the first of the three match T20I series. Coming to the game, the South African side fielded a new revamped side. On the other hand, the visitors had the same core group of players, and a couple of changes. In the match, South African skipper JP Duminy won the toss and opted to field first. India got off to a flying start riding on Rohit Sharma’s brisk 21 off 9 deliveries.

Proteas debutante Junior Dala dismissed Rohit and then accounted for the dismissal of Suresh Raina. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli then stitched a handy 59 run stand for the third wicket before Tabraiz Shamsi accounted for Kohli’s dismissal on 26.

Meanwhile, Dhawan paraded along to reach his fifty. He played well for his 72 off 39 balls with 10 fours and a couple of sixes before getting dismissed in the 15th over. An unbeaten 29 (27) from Manish Pandey and cameos from MS Dhoni (16), Hardik Pandya (13*) saw India finish with 203/5 in their 20 overs.

In the run chase, South Africa were dented early by Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was spot on with his lines. Kumar dismissed JJ Smuts (14) and JP Duminy (3) cheaply in the powerplay. David Miller (9) perished soon after as Hardik Pandya managed to get a top edge off his bat. Reeza Hendricks and Farhaan Behardien had a tough task in hand to rebuild the innings.

The two batsmen added 81 for the fourth wicket before Yuzvdendra Chahal dismissed Behardien on 39. Meanwhile, Hendricks notched up his fifty at the other end. A very well compiled 70 off 50 deliveries from Hendricks for South Africa very close in the run chase. But, in the end, it turned out to be a little too much for the hosts to accomplish. India wrapped up the game by 28 runs to go 1-0 up in the series.

Here is how the fans reacted to first South Africa vs India T20I:

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