SA vs IND 1st T20I: Dhawan's 39-ball 72 powers India to 203/5

Johannesburg: The blitzkrieg by Shikhar Dhawan powered India to a huge total of 203/5 against South Africa in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) at the New Wanderers ground here on Sunday.

Continuing his great run in South Africa, Dhawan played a phenomenal inning of 72 runs off just 39 balls and smashed 10 fours and 2 sixes.

India was given a flying start by Rohit Sharma who scored 21 runs off only 9 deliveries with 2 fours and 2 sixes. His stay at the crease might not have been too long but his fireworks set up the platform for a big total. He fell prey to debutant paceman Junior Dala.

Suresh Raina, who found a place in Indian side after a long time, was promoted up at No 3. He played an aggressive cameo of 15 runs off only 7 deliveries with 2 fours and a huge six.

Skipper Virat Kohli, who enjoyed a dream run in the recently concluded ODI series, scored 26 runs off 20 balls with 2 fours and a six. He was also dropped at the boundary line by Farhaan Behardien earlier in his inning.

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Manish Pandey though remained unbeaten but disappointed with his almost run-a-ball inning. He scored 29 runs off 27 balls and scored a six. MS Dhoni could not do the bombardment of boundaries this time and went back after adding 16 runs off 11 balls with 2 fours.

Hardik Pandya also played a crucial inning of 13 runs off just 7 balls and smashed 2 boundaries. The scoring rate dipped during the slog overs which resulted in India being restricted to 203 runs which at one time was looking to touch the 250-run mark.

Junior Dala was the pick of the bowlers for Proteas team as he picked up two wickets despite being very expensive in his spell. He conceded 47 runs off his 4 overs.

Chris Morris (1/39), Tabraiz Shamsi (1/37) and Andile Phehlukwayo (1/16) managed one scalp each. Dane Peterson went for as many as 48 runs in his four overs and remained wicket-less.

South Africa will soon come back on the ground to chase down a huge target of 204 runs.