New Delhi: South Africa defeated West Indies by 8 wickets at the Dubai International Stadium in their ICC Men's T20 World Cup match to get their first win in the tournament. Batting first, West Indies had given South Africa a target of 144 runs, which South Africa chased down after losing 2 wickets in 18.2 overs.
Aidan Markram played an important role in helping South Africa get win over Windies by playing an unbeaten 51 run knock. This is West Indies' second defeat in this year's World Cup and now the journey of defending champions' in the tournament has become very difficult. In the last match, West Indies were defeated by heavyweights England. In this match too, West Indies players performed disappointingly.
After getting invited to bat after losing the toss, West Indies got off to a good start. The openers scored 43 runs without losing a wicket in the powerplay. During this, Evin Lewis scored 56 runs with the help of three fours and six sixes. After this, Lewis was dismissed by Keshav Maharaj. After Lewis's dismissal, West Indies' batsmen fell like a pack of cards.
Nicholas Pooran (12), Chris Gayle (12) and Kieron Pollard (26) returned to the pavilion without creating a big impact. West Indies could score only 143 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs. Dwayne Pretorius took three wickets for South Africa. After this Keshav Maharaj took two wickets. Kagiso Rabada and Enrique Nortz got one wicket each.
Chasing the target, the South Africa team had a poor start and in the very first over, captain Temba Bavuma was run out. After this, Reeza Hendrix, who came to bat, scored 39 runs in 30 balls with the help of four fours and a six. Then he returned to the pavilion after getting out on a brilliant ball from Aqeel Hussain.
Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram batted remarkable well to give their team a superb win. Markram scored 51 runs with the help of 2 fours and 4 sixes. Dussen scored 43 runs with the help of three fours.