TIMELINE | How Proteas' top order order collapsed to 9/5 in Indian nightmare

"When you go five down in the powerplay, it's very difficult to come back from there."

Those were the words of South Africa's unlikely batting hero from the first T20 against India in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. 

It was a dismal outing for the Proteas, who could only muster 106/8 from their allotted 20 overs before India knocked the runs off in 16.4 overs. 

Maharaj top-scored with 41 for the visitors, who were rocked by superb new ball spells from Deepak Chahar (2/24) and Arshdeep Singh (3/32). 

After just 2.3 overs, the Proteas had hit a new rock bottom at 9/5, and while the Maharaj-led recovery after that was actually quite impressive, the damage was done. 

There four ducks in the Proteas top six, with three of them being first-ballers. 

Here, we look back at how the collapse happened. 

0.6 overs - Bavuma bowled by Chahar 0 (4). SA 1/1. 

The skipper had come out with intent, throwing the bat at a couple of away swingers without any success. Chahar waited until the final ball of his over to swing one the other way, and Bavuma had no answer to this in-ducker. He was clean bowled, and tucked the bat under his arm straight away and made the long walk off. Bavuma is under a world of pressure right now, but what happened in the minutes that followed his dismissal was placed the entire Proteas batting unit under the microscope. 

1.2 overs - De Kock bowled by Singh 1 (4). SA 2/1. 

Just like that, the Proteas were two down. De Kock has been in horrible T20 form on the international stage, and it continued here with a nothing shot. This one swung away from the left-hander, and De Kock shaped to cut only to chop onto his own stumps. It was a disastrous start for South Africa, but things were about to get much, much worse. 

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