Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller orchestrated South Africa’s impressive run-chase in the first of five T20Is against India in Delhi on Thursday, June 9.
The first T20I between India and South Africa played in Delhi on Thursday turned out to be a run-fest, with 423 runs being scored, accompanied by a whopping 33 fours and 28 sixes across the two innings. It was the highest team total at the venue in T20Is. Interestingly, one of the last IPL games played at this venue – an IPL 2021 league fixture between Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians last year, saw the latter chasing down a 219-run target off the last ball.
Here is a list of interesting records broken during the first IND vs SA T20I
India have gone into the five-match home series – the first assignment in a packed international season – without the services of a host of senior players, most of whom would be directly seen in action during the rescheduled fifth Test against England at Edgbaston next month. Interestingly, this was India’s first home T20I since playing against Sri Lanka in Mohali in 2009, with neither of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in their XI. Rohit, who is the most capped T20I player currently with 125 appearances, was already an international cricketer then, having debuted in both ODIs and T20Is in 2007.
Kohli, who’s three games away from becoming the second India player 100 T20Is, had played his first in the format during the 2010 Zimbabwe tour, and has been a dynamic presence since.
South Africa recorded the sixth-highest successful run-chase in T20I cricket, having gunned down India’s 211/4 with five balls to spare on Thursday. It was their best ever in the format, bettering the 206-run chase against the West Indies in the opening game of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 at the Wanderers.
It was also the highest team-total for any team against India in the second innings, and the best ever run-chase on Indian soil. The previous record belonged to the hosts, who had chased down Sri Lanka’s 206/7 in Mohali in 2009 – the game mentioned earlier sans Kohli and Rohit – with six wickets and five balls remaining.
It was the first occasion of India losing a T20I, after having posted a 200-plus total while batting first. Their 211/4 effort on Thursday was the 12th instance they crossed 200 while setting a score in T20Is, and their joint seventh best total ever – batting first or second. Interestingly, their previous highest score which they failed to defend had come against the same opponents seven years ago – 199/5 in Dharamsala in 2015.
Sensational start to the T20I series for South Africa! They create history at the Feroz Shah Kotla!#INDvsSA #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/vWm63pByTk
— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) June 9, 2022
India had come into the game on the back of 12 consecutive T20I wins, a joint-record alongside Afghanistan (February 2018 to September 2019) and Romania (October 2020 to September 2021). The Men in Blue had defeated Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia after crushing losses to Pakistan and New Zealand at the T20 World Cup 2021, before registering 3-0 clean sweeps in subsequent home series against New Zealand, West Indies, and Sri Lanka respectively.
Thailand Women hold the record in all T20I cricket with a staggering 17 consecutive wins between July 2018 and August 2019.
