Nagpur, March 25 (IANS) The West Indies came up with an all-round bowling performance to restrict South Africa to 122/8 in 20 overs in a Group 1 clash of the World Twenty20 cricket tournament at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here on Friday.
Chris Gayle (2-17), Dwayne Bravo (2-20) and Andre Russell (2-28) were the pick of the bowlers for the West Indies.
For South Africa, Quinton de Kock top scored with 47 runs.
Put into bat, South Africa got off to a disastrous start losing opener Hashim Amla (1), Faf Du Plessis (9) and Rilee Rossouw (0) to have team wobbling at 20/3 in three overs.
From there on, opener De Kock and AB de Villiers (10) held on to help team go past the powerplay with 39/3 on board.
But next up, the Proteas received their biggest blow when de Villiers, trying to flick through midwicket, was cleaned up by a slower ball from Bravo in the eighth over.
The batting side failed to learn from the earlier mistakes on a wicket which looked tough for batting as part-time off-spinner Gayle, who had dismissed Rossouw, struck yet again in the ninth over to shatter David Miller's stumps and have South Africa in a spot of bother at 47/5.
Incoming batsman David Wiese (28) and De Kock took their time in the middle without trying anything silly to help team go past 90-run mark in 15 overs.
But as De Kock was chipping in with ones and twos to get close to his second T20I fifty, Russell came in to get rid of the left-handed batsman to have the former three runs short off half-century.
With wickets falling at regular intervals, life became difficult for the Proteas batsmen to post a respectable total as tail-enders Chris Morris (16 not out) and Aaron Phangiso (4) helped team reach 122/8.
Brief scores: South Africa 122/8 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 47; Chris Gayle 2-17, Dwayne Bravo 2-20, Andre Russell 2-28)
