WATCH: Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma's reaction after India lose DRS on former skipper's advice in 1st T20I

India got the better of South Africa by 8 wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series on Wednesday (September 28) in Thiruvananthapuram. The Rohit Sharma-led side first restricted the visitors to a below-par total of 106 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs and then reached the required total in 16.4 overs to go 1-0 up in the series.

For the Men in Blue, the script of a perfect game was written within the first 15 balls of the match when Deepak Chahar (2/24) and Arshdeep Singh (3/32) dismissed half of the South African side for just nine runs. While Deepak got rid of skipper Temba Bavuma (0) and youngster Tristan Stubbs (0) in his first two overs, Arshdeep took three wickets in his first over itself. The left-arm pacer accounted for the dismissals of Quinton de Kock (1), Rilee Rossouw (0) and David Miller (0).

After losing five wickets for just nine runs in 2.3 overs, Aiden Markram came to South Africa’s rescue and scored 25 runs from 24 balls to take his side out of danger for a while. He was sent back to the pavilion on the last ball of the eighth over, which was bowled by Harshal Patel. But before that, he survived a DRS call when, in the sixth over of the innings, which was bowled by Arshdeep, India took a strange call.

Arshdeep managed to beat Markram's outside edge off the third ball, but both he and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant were convinced that it was close but not out. However, captain Rohit went to take the DRS upon the insistence of Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav, who were fielding at cover and extra cover respectively.

And as it turned out to be, the replays showed that there was a clear gap between bat and ball. It took some time for the producers to load the ultra-edge, but the Indian fielders had walked back to their positions by then and Rohit was seen letting out a sarcastic smile. After the decision was announced, Kohli could be seen giving a cheeky smile.

It was an off day for both Kohli and Rohit with the bat, as they could only manage to score 3 and 0 respectively. But despite that, India managed to reach the target without much fuss and take a 1-0 lead over South Africa in the three-match series.