Dharamsala, India – JP Duminy was the hero as the Proteas hit back from conceding 199 runs to beat India with two balls to spare in the first T20 International in Dharamshala in India on Friday evening.
The Proteas, needing 200 runs to win the match, were facing defeat at 95/3 after 10.3 overs following the dismissal of captain Faf du Plessis for just four runs.
Du Plessis had followed star openers AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla to the sidelines, which left a huge task for Duminy and Farhaan Behardien if the Proteas were going to triumph.
De Villiers and Amla had given South Africa a superb start in their run-chase, keeping the run-rate above the required 10 to the over. De Villiers in particular was in fine form, playing some terrific shots all around the ground to reach his 50 off just 31 balls.
But he was out the very next ball, charging down the pitch to a Ravi Ashwin spinning delivery, and he was bowled for 51.
And De Villiers was also to blame for Amla (36) being run out – De Villiers called for a second run that was never on, and Amla was found well out of his ground.
But after a scratchy start to his innings, Duminy soon took control of the Indian attack, hitting seven sixes in his match-winning innings of 68 not out off 34 balls.
He got crucial support from another former Cape schoolboy in Behardien, who kept up the tempo with a couple of vital boundaries and quick running between the wickets.
The Proteas needed 10 runs to win off the last six balls, and Duminy landed the sucker punch, swiping a Sreenath Arvind full toss over the mid-wicket fence for six.
Earlier, Indian opener Rohit Sharma provided all the fireworks, stroking his way to an outstanding 106 off only 66 balls. He was ably assisted by Virat Kohli (43 off 27), but in the end, the 199-run target was not enough to hold off the Proteas.
Cape Times