Speedster Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed his career-best spell of 5/24 to help India beat South Africa by 28 runs in the first T20I at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series on Sunday. The Meerut quick became the first India pacer to claim a five-wicket haul in T20Is and across all formats of cricket. (SCORECARD)
Among spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal was the first from India to claim a five-for in T20Is. He achieved the feat in Bengaluru, playing against England last year.
"I just wanted to bowl in the right areas. Seeing how they were bowling, we chalked out our plans. When you do well in tough situations, you enjoy it," Bhuvneshwar said in the post-match ceremony, in which he was bestowed with the man-of-the-match award.
"I have been bowling that knuckleball with the seam up since the last one year. Worked on it in the IPL," the 28-year-old from Meerut added.
Earlier in the first innings, Shikhar Dhawan smashed his fourth T20I half-century to power India to a challenging 203 for 5. Dhawan scored 72 off only 39 balls, hitting 10 fours and 2 sixes, while Virat Kohli (26 off 20 balls) and Manish Pandey (29 off 27 balls) also made useful contributions after Rohit Sharma (21 off 9 balls) gave India a power-packed start.
