Ahmedabad, February 22 Indian star opener Abhishek Sharma finally got off the mark in the T20 World Cup after three successive ducks, but a brilliant catch ended his innings for 15 as India were 29 for three after five overs in their pursuit of 188 against South Africa in their Group 1 Super Eights clash here on Sunday.
Aiden Markram dismissed in-form Ishan Kishan with his off-spin for a four-ball duck.
Three balls later, Tilak Varma attempted to attack Marco Jansen, but the ball hit his pads, and the review confirmed a leg-before decision, leaving him out for 1.
However, captain Suryakumar Yadav immediately responded, hitting Jansen for two crisp boundaries to ease the pressure.
Meanwhile, Abhishek broke his streak of ducks with a boundary off Markram before taking on Kagiso Rabada.
He upper-cut a short ball over the wicketkeeper for six and then punished a wide full toss through cover point, helping India regain momentum.
However, a stunning catch by Corbin Bosch ended Abhishek's innings for 15 (12 balls; 2x4, 1x6) as he failed to capitalize on his start.
Earlier, David Miller produced some exhilarating strokes, but Jasprit Bumrah's superb bowling restricted South Africa to 187/7.
Miller scored 63 off 35 balls and received valuable support from young Dewald Brevis (45 off 29 balls) in a 97-run fourth-wicket stand that came off just 51 balls.
Bumrah (3/15 in 4 overs) and Arshdeep Singh (2/28 in 4 overs) had reduced the Proteas to 20/3 inside the first four overs after they had opted to bat.
