Ahmedabad, February 9 Skipper Aiden Markram led the way with a brilliant half-century, guiding South Africa to a commanding 213 for four against Canada in a Group D T20 World Cup match here on Monday.
Sent in to bat, Markram (59 off 32 balls) opened the scoring with three boundaries off Dilon Heyliger in the second over.
Quinton de Kock (25 off 22 balls) followed suit, smashing Saad Bin Zafar for two consecutive fours, hitting the bowler over long-off.
The pair continued in the same vein, picking up boundaries and sixes. They put on 70 runs for the opening stand in just 6.5 overs.
South Africa suffered their first setback with De Kock's dismissal, as he was caught by skipper and right-arm pacer Dilpreet Bajwa.
Markram was in excellent form, bringing up his fifty with a four off Bajwa in the 10th over.
Ryan Rickelton also looked in good form, smashing three fours and one six during his 21-ball 31-run knock.
Markram's innings was finally ended by left-arm spinner Ansh Patel, who caught him at long-on off Heyliger.
Soon after, Rickelton returned to the pavilion, handing a straightforward catch to Harsh Thaker at the rope off Patel's bowling.
Dewald Brevis also failed to impress, as he was caught at mid-off by Nicholas Kirton in the same over, dealing a double blow to South Africa.
Towards the end, veteran David Miller (39 not out off 23 balls) and Tristan Stubbs (34 off 19 balls) powered the Proteas to the big total with an unbeaten 75-run fifth-wicket partnership that came off just 37 balls.
Miller was at his best towards the end, smashing sixes at will.
Left-arm spinner Ansh Patel was the pick of the bowlers for Canada, with figures of 3/31.