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Team India picked up from where they left off against Australia as they humbled the South African side by eight wickets to win the first T20I at Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram.

KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav shone with the bat with individual fifties while Arshdeep Singh was the pick among the bowlers as India sailed through with 3.2 overs to spare.

Put in to bat first, South Africa got off to a nightmare start after losing five wickets for just nine runs. Thereafter, their lower-middle order picked up the pieces to help their team reach 106/8, which proved inadequate in the end.

Skipper Rohit Sharma addressed a host of changes in the playing XI during the toss.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out due to back pain that he complained of earlier in the day. Deepak Chahar came in as his replacement.

Ravichandran Ashwin replaced Yuzvendra Chahal. Rishabh Pant and Arshdeep Singh were named in the starting XI in place of the rested duo of Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

As for South Africa, Temba Bavuma returned from an injury lay-off to lead his side. Reeza Hendricks, who was the top run-scorer in the series when the two sides met earlier in June, did not feature.

Team India got off to the best possible start, with four wickets in the first two overs itself.

Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma succumbed to a Deepak Chahar in-swinger in the first over before Arshdeep Singh dismissed the trio of Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw, and David Miller in the breathtaking second over.

It got bad to worse for the visitors as half the side was back to the pavilion after Deepak Chahar scalped another one for Team India, this time the wicket of youngster Tristan Stubbs, who became the third batter to get out on a golden duck in the space of five balls.

The Men in Blue were cruising with five top-notch wickets inside the powerplay phase. However, all-rounders Aiden Markram and Wayne Parnell steadied the ship for their team, getting their team from 9/5 to 30/5 at the end of six overs.

Nonetheless, Team India continued to pile pressure with a sixth wicket. Aiden Markram departed for a 24-ball 25 off Harshal Patel to leave the Proteas reeling.

At the halfway stage, the scoreboard read 48/6.

Axar Patel got the wicket of Wayne Parnell in the 16th over, who scored a fighting 37-ball 24 to spare his team’s blushes.

South Africa were 72/7 at the end of 16 overs, with the bowlers keeping the run-rate under five an over. In the last four overs, the Proteas added 34 runs to set a target of 107 runs, despite losing the wicket of their highest scorer Keshav Maharaj.

India’s chase began on a nervy note as KL Rahul survived an umpire’s call in the second over off Wayne Parnell, before Rohit Sharma departed for a duck in the next over.

The first six overs saw the Proteas control the proceedings as Team India reached 17/1.

Anrich Nortje struck immediately after the sixth over to send Virat Kohli packing.

However, India got things under control as soon as Suryakumar Yadav took the crease.

Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav hit two sixes in the seventh over to surpass Shikhar Dhawan as the highest run-getter (732) in T20Is for India in a calendar year. In the process, he also created a record of smashing the most sixes (45) in T20Is in a calendar year.

KL Rahul and SKY completed their 50-run partnership as the hosts moved closer to victory by the end of the 13th over, with 30 required off 42.

Both the batters got to their individual fifties before KL Rahul sealed the win with a six in the 17th over.

Brief scores: South Africa 106/8 (Keshav Maharaj 41, Arshdeep Singh 3/32) lost to India 110/2 (KL Rahul 51*, Kagiso Rabada 1/6) by 8 wickets

Team India will be keen to capitalize on this victory to clinch their first ever T20I series against South Africa at home while the visitors will look to bounce back in the second T20I when the two sides meet at Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati on 2nd October.