Joe Root was instrumental in England’s victory over South Africa yesterday, making a brilliant 83 as they hunted down 230 against South Africa in Mumbai.

The target of 230 meant that England would have to mastermind the second biggest chase in Twenty20 history and, despite a brief wobble with the scores level on 229, Moeen Ali sent a Kyle Abbott ball over the top to seal the victory.

“It’s just nice to contribute to a winning team,” said Root. “When they got such a big score at half-time all we we spoke about was not getting greedy and trying for 20 an over.

“We knew we had to build some partnerships to take it deep. We were calm under pressure and this sets up nicely for the rest of the tournament.

“We knew we just had to back the natural instincts and play good cricket shots. After the start we got, we couldn’t have asked for better, it made the middle order a lot easier and put South Africa under pressure straight away, which is exactly where we needed to be.”

Quinton de Kock (52), Hashim Amla (58) and JP Duminy (54) set the tone of the match but Root and Jason Roy, who reached 43 in just 16 deliveries, battled back in tremendous fashion.

Only the West Indies, who made 236 against the same opponents last year, have ever scored more to win an international and England’s mark has never been bettered in domestic T20s.

“Honestly I felt we had to play out of our skins and we did just that,” said England captain Eoin Morgan.

“There is a lot of talent in our group and the best way for us to play is how we did tonight.

“The freedom that we play with is the best solution for us. We had a lot of big chases in the last year, and the start we got from [Jason] Roy and [Alex] Hales, they were both outstanding.”