Hambantota, Sep 22: South Africa beat hosts Sri Lanka by 32 runs in a rain-affected match that was truncated to seven-overs-a-side at the Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium here Saturday.
Chasing 79, Sri Lanka managed 46 for five in seven overs.
Rain played spoilsport but failed to dampened the spirit of the 34,000 spectators, who had turned up for the first Twenty20 international between Sri Lanka and South Africa.
The start of the match was delayed by two-and-a-half-hours and when rain stopped only seven overs per side were possible.
Sri Lanka won the toss and skipper Mahela Jayawardene decided to bowl first. Nuwan Kulasekara struck in the very first over to get rid of the dangerous Richard Levi with Dilshan Munaweera taking one of the best catches in the tournament so far.
But it was the captain's knock of 15-ball 30 by AB de Villiers that took away the match from Sri Lankans. Hashim Amla (16), Faf du Plessis (13) and Jean Paul Duminy (13 nout out) also came up with valuable runs.
In reply, Sri Lanka kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Munaweera and Kumar Sangakkara were the only two batsmen, who got to double figures scoring identical 13.
Both teams have moved into the Super Eight Stage.
