Team India returned to action on Thursday (May 9) and faced a crushing defeat at the hands of South Africa in the first T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. The hosts were led by young Rishabh Pant.
With regular skipper Rohit Sharma rested for the series along with the likes of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul was named as the stand-in skipper. But just a day before the start of the series, Rahul was ruled out of action owing to an injury and Pant got the opportunity to lead the team for the first time in his career.
He, however, could not guide India to a win on his captaincy debut. The Men in Blue did well with the bat, scoring a massive total of 211 for 4 in the allotted 20 overs. Opener Ishan Kishan was the star with the bat, slamming 76 off just 48 balls to lay the foundation for the big total.
The likes of Shreyas Iyer (36), Pant (29) and Hardik Pandya (31*) then played fine cameos to take India’s score past the 200-run mark. The score, however, did not turn out to be a match-winning one as the Proteas chased it down with 5 balls remaining.
India had the visitors reeling at 81 for 3 in the 9th over before David Miller and Rassie van der Dussen joined hands to take their team over the finishing line. The duo shared an unbeaten stand of 131 runs to register a sensational win for their team. Van der Dussen remained unbeaten on 75 while Miller slammed 64.
Rishabh Pant creates unwanted record:
On his captaincy debut, Rishabh Pant has created an unwanted record. On a day when Pant would have loved to make it memorable for himself and the team, he ended up losing the game. In the process, he became the first-ever India captain in the history of T20Is who failed to defend a 200-plus total.
In India’s 17-years T20I journey so far, this was the first occasion when they could not defend a total of 200-plus in the shortest format of the game. Before this defeat, the highest total that India had failed to defend was 199 in 2015. Incidentally on that occasion too, South Africa was the opposition.