South Africa win by 34 runs against Zimbabwe in first T-20

New Delhi: South Africa defeated Zimbabwe by 34 runs in the first Twenty20 internationals at Buffalo Park on Tuesday. South Africa won the toss, opted to bat and posted a decent score by scoring 160 runs for 6 wickets in 20 overs.

Debutant Van Der Dussen's innings of 56 run in 44 balls played a crucial role in South Africa's batting along with David Miller and Faf du Plessis (c) scoring 39 and 34 runs respectively.

Zimbabwe in return, chasing a competitive 161, lost early wickets and  never recovered. However, Peter Moor's scored 44 crucial runs for Zimbabwe but it was not good enough.

Imran Tahir ripped through the Zimbabwe batting order by taking  5 crucial wickets in his spell conceding only 23 runs.

After achieving his best figures in 20-over internationals, Tahir said,"I've been practising with the new ball to see if I can get more accurate (in case) I get a chance to bowl with it.'' 

Zimbabwe will have a lot to ponder upon before the next match.

Score card:-

South Africa  160-6 (20) 

Zimbabwe      126-10 (17.2) 

(UNI)