1st T20I: Rohit Sharma's ton in vain as SA power to 7-wicket win over India

DharamsalaRohit Sharmas blistering centurywent in vain as South Africa began their long tour of India ona winning note by scripting a thrilling sevenwicket victoryin the first Twenty20 International match here todaySharma 106 notched up his maiden T20 Internationalcentury to give India a competitive total of 199 for 5 but thevisitors rode on some sparkling strokeplay by J P Duminy 68not out and A B de Villiers 51 to overhaul the target withtwo balls to spare and take a 10 lead in the threematchseriesSouth Africas JP Duminy C celebrates after victory as Indias S Aravind looks on in the first T20 international between India and South Africa at The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Friday PicAFPTest skipper Hashim Amla 36 and ODI skipper de Villierslaid the foundation of the SA win with their 77run openingstand and Duminy guided the visiting side to the finish linewith a sublime unbeaten 68 off just 34 balls His 105rununbeaten partnership for the fourth wicket with FarhaanBehardien 32 not out sealed the game for the ProteasLefthanded Duminy played with a lot of responsibilityunder pressure and could not have timed his eighth fifty inT20Is better than this Thanks to his gritty batting SouthAfrica collected 22 runs off Axar Patel in the 16th over and14 when Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled the penultimate overDuminy hit Patel for three successive sixes and found asix and a four from Bhuvneshwars first two balls as hestroked India out of the match He punished the Indian bowlerswith seven sixesDebutant leftarm paceman Sreenath Aravind was given thedaunting task of bowling the last over from which the Proteasneeded 10 Duminy ended Indias thin hopes with a six in thethird ball and strolled the winning run in the fourthThe flat track at the HPCA Stadium as well as dew made itdifficult for the bowlers to contain the batsmen and it wasthe Proteas who had the last laughThe two teams will now travel to Cuttack for the secondT20 match of the series on October 5Earlier opener Rohit butcheredSouth African bowling attack effortlessly en route to hismaiden Twenty20 International century as India rattled up achallenging 199 for fiveSharma was slow to start but once he gauged the paceof the wicket he plundered runs at will and became only thesecond Indian to score a T20 International hundred afterSuresh RainaHis sensational 66ball knock was packed with 12 foursand five sixes as he sent the visiting bowlers on a leatherhuntafter India were invited to bat at the scenic HPCA stadiumRohit Sharma celebrates after scoring a century during the first T20 international between India and South Africa at The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Friday PicAFPSharma scored runs effortlessly and raised a 138runpartnership for the second wicket with skipper Virat Kohli 43off 27 balls who became the first Indian to complete 1000runs in Twenty20 cricket during his cameoSharma who was timing the ball beautifully completedhis hundred with a breathtaking six off paceman Merchant deLange His fifty came off 40 balls and needed only 22 moreballs to get to the threefigure markKyle Abbott stemmed the rot by dismissing Kohli first andthen Sharma in the space of four balls The Indian opener wentfor a pull but managed an edge which was taken by Morris atlong leg By that time India were cruising with scorecardreading 162 in 16 oversIndia lost Raina 14 and Ambati Rayudu 0 run out inthe 19th over but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni 20 not outhelped India get close to 200 He finished the innings instyle hammering Abbott for a sixThe quick dismissal of Sharma and Kohli did affectIndias run rate as the hosts managed just 37 runs from thelast four oversAbbott was the only South African bowler who managed arespectable figure as he gave away just 29 runs in his fouroversThe dew on the ground did make it tough for the bowlersbut Sharma was in sublime form as he reduced the South Africanattack to a pedestrian oneSharma opened his account with an uppish cut in atentative start as the lanky Abbott kept it outside off Heopened up after getting his eye in pulling and drivingMerchant de Lange effortlesslyShikhar Dhawan 3 who hardly got a strike was run outwhen he attempted a second following a misfield from deLange Sharma though grew better and better De Langecontinued to dig in short and the Indian kept pulling him Hedid not spare even Chris Morris and smashed him for a six onthe leg side after getting a boundary off a driveProteas skipper Faf du Plessis introduced Imran Tahir asIndia put on board 46 after six powerplay overs Thelegspinner bowled a tight over but the pacers kept leakingruns This time it was Indian skipper Virat Kohlis turn toinflict some damage as he hammered Morris for a six andfollowed it up with a boundarySharma completed his halfcentury when he guided a shortand bouncy one from Abbott to third man boundary One balllater he played a scoop for a legside boundary as India puton board 86 after halfway stageTahir came in for some punishment from the two batsmen as they collected 21 runs from the 12th over Sharma sent the first ball soaring over the ropes to bring up teams 100 and in the third ball Kohli heaved him over deep midwicket to complete his 1000 T20 international runs The skipper followed it with a flat six in longoff areaEarlier the visitors left out allrounder Albie Morkel young legspinner Edie Leie batsmen Khaya Zondo and Quinton de KockPacer Srinath Aravind was given his debut by India Spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin were preferred over veterans Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra to shoulder Indias slow bowling task for the match