Team India failed to defend 212 runs in the first T20I against South Africa at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday. Except for Avesh Khan, all five bowlers leaked runs at an economy of 10 and above. India's premier leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was hammered 26 runs in just 13 balls. It was one of those rare days that Chahal did not complete his full quota of four overs. Captain Rishabh Pant went with the pace of Hardik Pandya and the left-arm spin of Axar Patel, who also gave runs at an economy of 18 and 10 respectively.
That's that from the 1st T20I.
South Africa win by 7 wickets and go 1-0 up in the 5 match series.#TeamIndia will look to bounce back in the 2nd T20I.
Scorecard - https://t.co/YOoyTQmu1p #INDvSA @Paytm pic.twitter.com/1raHnQf4rm
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 9, 2022
Former India cricketer Ashish Nehra feels that India missed a trick by not letting Chahal bowl four overs. Nehra also said that India head coach Rahul Dravid should have sent a message to Pant asking him to let Chahal bowl.
"Rishabh Pant is a young captain, he will learn and hopefully he will get better. Now, if Dravid feels that Chahal should bowl an over, obviously a message can be sent. They have to keep things simple and be proactive," Nehra said on Cricbuzz.
"It is very surprising to me that a bowler like him only bowled 2 overs today. He should have bowled to the van der Dussen-Miller pair, especially at the stage when South Africa were back in the chase. Rishabh Pant surely made a mistake over there. He also was frantic in the powerplay, using five bowlers for six overs," Nehra added.
Pant was named captain of the Indian team for the five-match T20I series against South Africa after KL Rahul was ruled out of the series due to an injury he suffered ahead of the first game. Hardik Pandya is the vice-capatin of the side for the series. The second game of the series will be played at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on Sunday.
