Vikrant Shekhawat : Oct 23, 2021, 09:10 PM
In the T20 World Cup 2021, Australia made a winning start to the tournament by defeating South Africa by five wickets in the first match played in Group-1 of Super 12 on Saturday. In this match played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Australia won the toss and bowled first, restricting South Africa to 118 runs for nine wickets and then achieved the target for the loss of five wickets with two balls to spare. Steve Smith scored the highest 35 runs for Australia. He hit three fours in 34 balls. Apart from them, Marcus Stoinis scored an unbeaten 25 off 16 balls with the help of three fours. After this win, Australia are now on top of Group-1 with two points.He made an important contribution to the team victory by sharing an unbeaten 40 off 26 balls for the sixth wicket with Matthew Wade. Wade hit two fours in 15 not out off 10 balls. At the same time, Glenn Maxwell made 18, David Warner 14 and Mitchell Marsh made 11, while captain Aaron Finch was dismissed without opening the account. For South Africa, Enrique Nortje took two wickets and Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Tabrez Shamsi took one wicket each. Hazlewood was given the Man of the Match award for his superb bowling.Earlier, Australia's bowlers bowled brilliantly to restrict South Africa to 188 for nine. Aiden Markram scored 40 runs for the African team. Markarram hit three fours and a six in 36 balls. Apart from them, Rabada scored an unbeaten 19 off 23 balls, hitting a four and a six. At the same time, David Miller scored 16 and Heinrich Klaasen scored 13 runs. For Australia, Mitchell Starc, Josh Helzwood and Adam Zampa took two wickets each while Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins took one wicket each.