Australia have beaten South Africa by 5 wickets in the 1st match of the super 12 round of T20 World Cup 2021.
The Aussies, having opted to bowl first, had a great start as the bowlers picked up 3 quick wickets. At the end of the powerplay, the score was 29/3 after the big wickets of Bavuma, van der Dussen and de Kock.
Josh Hazlewood, the in-form bowler's tight line and length worked for Australia in the powerplay again. After the fall of Klaasen's wicket, it was up to Aiden Markram and David Miller to rebuild the innings.
But soon, David Miller was trapped in front and given lbw to Zampa. Pretorius returned in the same over and South Africa were 82/6.
With almost no support from the other end, Markram departed scoring 40 from 36. Hazlewood, Starc and Zampa picked up 2 wickets each and South Africa managed to score only 118 runs in the first innings.
The Australians didn’t have a flying start either, as they were 20/2 early on, having lost Finch and Warner to two brilliant deliveries from Nortje and Rabada respectively.
They lost the in-form Mitchell Marsh in the 8th over to Maharaj and were 38/3. The South African bowlers fought hard and Australia scored only 55 runs from the 7th to the 16th over.
Nortje picked up a couple of wickets with an economical spell. The spinners, Shamsi and Maharaj picked up a wicket each.
In the end, Australia won it by 5 wickets with 2 balls to spare as Stoinis hit the winning boundary and ended his innings on 24* from 16 deliveries.