Ishan Kishan raises his bat after 50 vs SA
Ishan Kishan returned to form and scored a blistering 76 off 48 deliveries in the first T20 vs South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Kishan looked scratchy at first but showed the much talked about 'intent' in Indian cricket, and tried to hit almost every ball out of the park. He reached his fifty in 37 balls. All hell broke loose when Maharaj came in to bowl the 13th over as Kishan went after him, scored 20 runs, and got out in the last ball of the over.
As far as the match is concerned, SA won the toss and opted to bowl first. Batting first, Ruturaj and Ishan gave India a perfect start as they reached to 51 runs for no loss after the Powerplay.
Ruturaj Gaikwad fell soon after the Powerplay, Shreyas Iyer came in next and literally took the SA spinners apart. During the toss, Temba Bavuma confirmed that Aiden Markram tested positive and is isolating himself.
We played a practice game here a couple of days ago so that the wicket got better to bat on. It was a bit slow and sloppy at the beginning, hopefully, we can exploit that and restrict them to a decent score and chase it down. Aiden was not available for selection as he tested positive for Covid, Stubbs comes and it is a debut for him. We have two all-rounders; Dwaine and Parnell also come into the fold. It is an important series as we haven't been together as a group since the World Cup, it is a preparation for the World Cup coming up in Australia. For us, it is about to build momentum and build confidence going ahead - Bavuma
India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje
