DURBAN: India opener Sanju Samson slammed a second successive Twenty20 International century as the tourists beat South Africa by 61 runs in the first match of a four-game series in Durban on Friday.

South Africa asked India to bat and the visitors posted 202 for eight in their 20 overs, before restricting their hosts to 141 all out in 17.5 overs for a comprehensive victory.

India’s total was boosted by a brilliant 107 from 50 balls by Samson but the innings did stall towards the end. It proved more than enough, though, as leg-spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi bowled in tandem and took three wickets apiece.

Samson vowed to “keep my feet on the ground” after “10 long years of international cricket” during which he has been unable to nail down a regular place in Indian white-ball teams.

His only two previous international centuries have come in the past 12 months — 108 in a One-day International against South Africa last December and 111 in a T20I against Bangladesh in Hyderabad last month.

Samson smashed 10 sixes and seven fours as he tore into the bowling at the small Kingsmead ground. He rattled along at a strike rate of 214, providing more than half his team’s total.

“I was in a zone, I just wanted to go with the flow,” he told SuperSport television after his innings, which ended with a leaping catch by Tristan Stubbs on the deep midwicket boundary as he tried to hit another six off leg-spinner Nqaba Peter.

At 167-2 in the 15th over, India looked on course for a score well in excess of 200, but managed only another 35 runs in 32 balls for the loss of six wickets after Tilak Varma was dismissed for 33.

Seamers Marco Jansen (1-24 in four overs) and Gerald Coetzee (3-37) were the pick of the home attack.

“The amount of hard work he [Samson] has put in over the last few years, doing those boring things again and again, he is reaping the fruits [now],” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said. “He is putting the team first, even when he was in the 90s he was looking to hit fours and sixes. That’s what separates him.”

Yadav, captaining an India team missing many of the country’s leading players, either preparing for a Test series in Australia or representing India A in Australia, praised his team for their attacking approach.

He said he was not concerned by the only blemish in the Indian performance — at the end of their innings. “We just want to be fearless,” said Yadav.

Indian opening bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan both took early wickets in South Africa’s reply before Chakravarthy and Bishnoi bowled immaculately in unbroken four-over spells.

They tied down South African stars Heinrich Klaasen (25) and David Miller (18) before both were dismissed in the space of three balls by Chakravarthy going for big hits.

South African captain Aiden Markram admitted that Samson had put a largely inexperienced bowling attack under pressure but said he was disappointed with his team’s batting effort.

“Sanju played incredibly well, put our bowlers under pressure,” said Markram. “When a guy is striking like that, it is pretty hard to stop him and you have to take your hat off.

“It was a really good wicket. We would have loved to have made a much better start [with the bat] and that’s where we lost the game.”

The second match of the series will be played in Gqeberha on Sunday.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

S. Samson c Stubbs b Peter 107
A. Sharma c Markram b Coetzee 7
S. Yadav c Simelane b Kruger 21
T. Varma c Jansen b Maharaj 33
H. Pandya c Jansen b Coetzee 2
R. Singh c Klaasen b Coetzee 11
A. Patel c Stubbs b Jansen 7
A. Singh not out 5
R. Bishnoi run out (Klaasen) 1

EXTRAS (NB-3, W-5) 8
TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs) 202
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-24 (Sharma), 2-90 (Yadav), 3-167 (Varma), 4-175 (Samson), 5-181 (Pandya), 6-194 (Singh), 7-199 (Patel), 8-202 (Bishnoi).
DID NOT BAT: A. Khan, V. Chakravarthy.
BOWLING: Jansen 4-0-24-1 (1w, 1nb), Markram 1-0-10-0, Maharaj 4-0-34-1, Coetzee 4-0-37-3, Peter 3-0-35-1, Kruger 2-0-35-1 (3w, 2nb), Simelane 2-0-27-0 (1w).

SOUTH AFRICA:

A. Markram c Samson b A. Singh 8
R. Rickelton c Varma b Chakravarthy 21
T. Stubbs c Yadav b Khan 11
H. Klaasen c Patel b Chakravarthy 25
D. Miller c Khan b Chakravarthy 18
P. Kruger c Pandya b Bishnoi 1
M. Jansen c Pandya b Bishnoi 12
A. Simelane lbw Bishnoi 6
G. Coetzee run out (Yadav) 23
K. Maharaj b Khan 5
N. Peter not out 5

EXTRAS (W-6) 6
TOTAL (all out, 17.5 overs) 141
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-8 (Markram), 2-30 (Stubbs), 3-44 (Rickelton), 4-86 (Klaasen), 5-87 (Miller), 6-87 (Kruger), 7-93 (Simelane), 8-114 (Jansen), 9-135 (Coetzee).
BOWLING: A. Singh 3-0-25-1 (3w), Khan 2.5-0-28-2, Pandya 3-0-27-0 (2w), Chakravarthy 4-0-25-3 (1w), Bishnoi 4-0-28-3, Patel 1-0-8-0.
RESULT: India won by 61 runs.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2024