'I enjoy the tough situations' – Bhuvneshwar

Bhuvneshwar Kumar scooped the Player of the Match award after taking a maiden five-wicket haul in T20Is in the first of a three-match series against South Africa, and the right-arm seamer said he enjoys the challenge of bowling when the heat is on.

The 28-year-old has become Virat Kohli's go-to bowler in the early overs and at the death, and it is a role he performed superbly at The Wanderers, taking out South Africa's top three and completing career-best figures of 5/24 – the second-best by an Indian in the format after Yuzvendra Chahal's 6/25 against England last February.

He also became the first Indian to take five-wicket hauls in all three formats of the game – something just five other players have managed altogether.

"It's amazing to get five in a T20," he said. "I just wanted to bowl in the good areas and it's a result of that. Seeing how they were bowling and how the wicket was, we planned our bowling and it worked for us.

"I enjoy bowling in the tough situations. The knuckle ball [which Bhuvneshwar used to great effect, bamboozling the opener JJ Smuts] is something I've been working on for almost a year. Nowadays you need to figure out new ways to get wickets.

India captain Virat Kohli, who watched from the sidelines for much of South Africa's innings after suffering what appeared to be a minor injury while batting, said he was delighted with a complete performance from his team.

"The injury was early on in the innings," he said. "It was in the glutes while taking a single. Thankfully it wasn't a hamstring. So I went off before I would tear a muscle.

"It was a really good wicket to bat on. Rohit [Sharma] and Shikhar [Dhawan] were outstanding at the top. It was a total team batting performance and at the end Bhuvi showed his experience – all in all it was a good team effort. It was one of our most balanced performances.

"You have to give credit to South Africa for their slog-overs bowling. We were thinking [of reaching] 220 in the 16th over but when [MS] Dhoni got out we had to pull it back. In the end it was a winning score. We want to make the most of the time we have left here [in South Africa]. It's an opportunity to play for your country every time and we have fresh faces who are looking for those opportunities at all times so there's a new motivation every time.

JP Duminy, who is deputising as South Africa captain in the absence of the injured Faf du Plessis, said he was reasonably happy with a target of 204 to chase but his team's failure to put together meaningful partnerships with the bat cost them.

"We're very disappointed," said Duminy. "I think in terms of the first six overs with the ball, we're always looking to take some wickets. And they're going to get boundaries. I was happy in fact. But we couldn't get any partnerships in.

"I'm pretty happy with our plans but we didn't get the lines right. I thought we could get over the line chasing this target but we didn't put the partnerships together. I was very happy with the new guys. You can't fault them, it's up to us experienced batsmen."

The two sides meet again in Centurion on Wednesday in the second match of the series.