Pitch was the culprit: Dhawan

Silver-lining: Shikhar Dhawan was one of the few positives for India from the first ODI would look for support from the middle-order. (Source: Getty Images)

Despite India falling short by 31 runs against South Africa in the first One-Day International at Paarl, Shikhar Dhawan, who has been overlooked from the T20 side, gave a good account of himself on Wednesday with a masterful 79 (84b, 10x4) on a slow and difficult pitch for batting.

The 36-year-old came into the series without many runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy but looked the most fluent batter for India.