South African captain Temba Bavuma admitted that he didn’t expect the pitch to be so difficult in the first T20I against India at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram. South Africa was put to bat by Rohit Sharma and the visitors soon found themselves tottering at 9-5 after 2.3.

The opening duo of Deepak Chahar and Arshdeep Singh got the ball to swing both ways to breathe down the neck of the opposition batters. Chahar scalped two wickets whereas Singh took three wickets to dismiss half of the South African line-up.

However, the Proteas did well to go past the 100-run mark after Keshav Maharaj and Wayne Parnell scored crucial runs in the lower middle order.

On the other hand, South Africa was able to take two early wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to put India under pressure but KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav were successful in bailing their team out of trouble. Both the batters scored fifties to get their team over the line by eight wickets.

Bavuma feels the team fought well with the bat towards the end of the innings as they were able to put some runs on the board.

Temba Bavuma said while talking in the post-match presentation, “As a batting unit we failed to apply ourselves in those conditions. We didn’t expect the pitch to play this way. Yes, we expected it to be spicy but normally you will be able to hit through the line in this part of the world. Seamers needed runs behind them to defend. They tried their best and were supported by spinners as well. I thought we fought well late with the bat. That’s a positive.”

South Africa could not get going as they lost their first five wickets for nothing and it was always going to be difficult for them to get back into the match after being reduced to 9-5.

The second T20I between these two teams will be played at Guwahati on Sunday.