Spinners varun chakravarthy

Kingsmead Cricket Stadium: Spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi spun a web to strangle the middle-order after Sanju Samson hammered a superb century as India thrashed South Africa by 61 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium here on Friday. India have never lost a T20I match at this ground and maintained their record with a comprehensive win. This is India's fifth win in six T20Is since the T20 World Cup triumph.

Chakravarthy, returning to the T20I side after a gap of three years, and fellow T20 specialist spinner Bishnoi bowled superb lines, mixed up their deliveries brilliantly to tie-down the South African batters in the middle overs as the hosts chased a massive target of 203.

In frustration, the South African batters tried to hit their way out of trouble but failed to do so as Chakravarthy claimed 3-25 while Bishnoi bagged 3-28 as India maintained their dominance over South Africa after defeating the Proteas in the T20 World Cup final a few weeks back. South Africa were never in the chase and were bowled out for 141 in 17.5 overs as India started the series on a winning note.