Arshdeep Shines With Ball, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Half-Tons Help India Beat SA

Thiruvananthapuram: After Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar’s heroic bowling performances, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav smashed unbeaten fifties to help India beat South Africa by eight wickets in the first T20I.

Chasing a target of 107, Suryakumar Yadav (50 not out off 33) provided India with some much-needed impetus in the chase after a shaky start. KL Rahul (51 not out off 56) too has found his feet after the early dismissals of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Earlier, Arshdeep Singh bagged three wickets, while Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel took two each as India managed to restrict South Africa to a below-par total of 106/8 in 20 overs.

The innings was reconstructed by Aiden Markram, who scored 25 off 24 balls before he was dismissed by Harshal Patel.

Keshav Maharaj then took the responsibility on him to get the Proteas over the 100-run mark. Maharaj scored a vital knock of 41 runs from 35 balls to set India a target of 107 runs.