India vs South Africa, 1st T20I: Suryakumar's scintillating knock, Arshdeep's sharp bowling and more talking points

Rohit Sharma-led India clinched an eight-wicket win over visitors South Africa in the first T20I at Thiruvananthapuram’s Greenfield Stadium on Wednesday.

After having restricted the Proteas to 106/8 from 20 overs after winning the toss, unbeaten half-centuries from opener KL Rahul (51*) and Suryakumar Yadav (50*) propelled the Men in Blue to victory after early hiccups in the chase.

Earlier, the Proteas were restricted to 9/5 in the third over, after Arshdeep Singh had scalped three wickets to rattle the top and middle-order – removing Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw, and David Miller in a single over.

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Keshav Maharaj’s 41, though, took the Proteas to 106/8, a target India would go on to chase down inside 17 overs but clearly not without a few roadblocks.

India lost skipper Rohit Sharma (0) early and Virat Kohli (3) on the first ball after the powerplay, but an unbeaten 93-run stand between Rahul and SKY ensured India cross the finish line and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Let’s take a look at five talking points from the contest:

Scratchy KL Rahul

On paper, India might have had it easy against the Proteas, winning the first T20I by eight wickets, but the start to India’s chase of 107 was slow, even having lost a couple of wickets.

India opened with the regular opening pair of skipper Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, but Rohit was dismissed for a duck in the third over, with India’s score reading 9/1 from 2.2 overs. India were restricted to 17/1 inside the powerplay overs, and Virat Kohli came in at three following Rohit’s dismissal, but hardly made an impact with the bat. Anrich Nortje struck on the first ball after the powerplay to remove the former skipper.

KL Rahul’s 56-ball match-winning fifty is now the slowest ever in T20I history by a player from a Test nation!#IndvSA #IndvsSA #SAvInd #SAvsInd

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) September 28, 2022

KL Rahul, however, endured a slow start to his innings, lacking in counter-attack and seemingly being more interested in just playing out deliveries.

Just before the drinks break, Nortje dropped Rahul in his follow-through with Rahul on 15. In fact, Rahul looked seemingly out of sorts at just 14 runs off 31 deliveries.

However, at the stroke of the 10^th over, Rahul hit Nortje for a six over long-on. He reached to 21 off 37 deliveries at the time, and then he hardly looked out of touch.

Later on, Rahul made use of the lost opportunity with three more sixes during his innings.

In the fourth ball of the 17^th, when India finally won the match, Rahul went for the slog-sweep, clearing backward square leg, to get to his fifty inside 56 balls. His knock consisted of two 4s and four 6s.

Dominating Suryakumar Yadav

After a shaky start to the chase, Suryakumar Yadav came in as the No 4 batter for India in the seventh over, following Virat Kohli’s dismissal. India were restricted to 17/2 in 6.1 overs, and while the duo of Suryakumar and Rahul forged an unbeaten 93 runs off 63 balls for the third wicket, SKY looked the more aggressive of the two, getting to his fifty in just 33 balls. He took five fours and three sixes to get to the milestone.

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