Twitter Reactions South Africa steal the show in one-off T20I

The Proteas after a successful home series against Sri Lanka where they won all the Test, as well as ODI matches travelled all the way to New Zealand to play the Black Caps in one T20I, 5 ODIs and 3 Test matches. Things went underway with the only T20I today at the Eden Park, Auckland. Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. The idea was to have a total on the board and know what they were chasing.

It started off as planned when Trent Boult dismissed dangerous Quinton de Kock for a duck. But the other opener Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis then had an 87-run partnership for the second wicket. Du Plessis departed for 36 and Amla also fell for 62. AB de Villiers who is also celebrating his 33rd birthday today started well but was dismissed for 26 and JP Duminy was run out for 29. A few blows in the lower order and South Africa finished their 20 overs with 185 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Boult was the best bowler for the Black Caps as he finished his 4 overs for 8 runs and picked 2 wickets.

New Zealand in their chase were never quite in the hunt. Chris Morris sent Glenn Philips back on the first ball of the third over on the very next ball he clean bowled Colin Munro for a golden duck. Things got worse as Williamson was dismissed by Phelukwayo. At the half way stage, the Black Caps were 5 down for 60 in 10.3 overs.

Tom Bruce was the top scorer with 33 runs and Tim Southee’s 20 at No.10 was the second best. Imran Tahir the No.1 T20I bowler ran through the Kiwi batting attack and it took him just 3.5 overs to claim a five-wicket haul; his first in T20I cricket and the opposition was bowled out for just 107 in 14.5 overs. With that, the Proteas won the match by a huge 78 runs margin.

Here is how Twitter reacted during the game:

Highest individual score on birthday in T20Is:

60* – Yuvraj Singh
42 – George Bailey
33 – Dinesh Ramdin
26 – AB de Villiers*#NZvSA

— Ankit Mishra (@editedidea) February 17, 2017

Trent Boult's figures of 4-0-8-2 are the most economical Twenty20 figures at Eden Park. No one conceded less than 14 runs previously. #NZvSA

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) February 17, 2017

Great to see Abraham Lincoln bowling spin for South Africa @TheACCnz @BeigeBrigade #NZvSA pic.twitter.com/GB24KtnZrz

— Anand Reddy (@AnandSReddy) February 17, 2017

#NZvSA Three emojis to describe #ProteaFire :
1) ?
2) ?
3)? !!!!
This was a perfect gift @OfficialCSA gave 2 @ABdeVilliers17 on his bday

— Apurv Chandrawal (@apurvjessy) February 17, 2017

South Africa's 78 run victory v New Zealand is their third biggest run victory behind the 130 runs v Scotland and 78 runs v England. #NZvSA

— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) February 17, 2017

In the debrief of this loss let's not forget Ross Taylor's omission & the fact the guy batting in his spot got the TOP SCORE for us #NZvSA

— Tim O'Brien (@timobriennz) February 17, 2017

Best Bowling figures for SA in T20I:

R McLaren: 5/19 vs WI
D Wiese: 5/23 vs WI
I Tahir: 5/24 vs NZ ( Today )#NZvSA #SAvsNZ

— Usnam Khan Hasrat (@UsmanKhanUSK) February 17, 2017

Fair play to these guys. They were too good tonight. See you in Hamilton for the 1st ANZ ODI #NZvSA ^WN pic.twitter.com/kvVwT1sb5N

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 17, 2017

Imran Tahir was awarded the man of the match for his best T20I bowling figures. #NZvSA pic.twitter.com/CHktYUmjXn

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) February 17, 2017

Pic 1 – Imran Tahir on 24-3-2015 in Auckland

Pic 2 – Imran Tahir on 17-2-2017 in Auckland #NZvSA pic.twitter.com/SyVBXLBpsS

— The Art of Leaving (@TheYorkerBall) February 17, 2017

Number 1 bowler in both T20s and ODIs how did Pakistan let go of Imran Tahir #WhatIf

— Ghumman (@Emclub7) February 17, 2017