Durban, Nov 9: Sanju Samson’s century, followed by some clinical bowling led by spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi, helped India beat South Africa by 61 runs in the first T20I in Durban. Samson’s 107 off 50 balls helped India to a score of 202/8 batting first. Chakravarthy and Bishnoi then stifled the South African middle order and they were eventually all out for just 141 runs in 17.5 overs. Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan and Chakravarthy all struck in the powerplay. David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen were in the middle at the end of that period but Chakravarthy and Bishnoi ensured that they could hardly score at their regular rate. Both batters fell to Chakravarthy in the 12th over after which Bishnoi got two wickets as well in the 13th over, thus all but ending any chances South Africa had of chasing the target down. While Gerald Coetzee provided some late entertainment to the crowd, Avesh Khan finished it off by cleaning up Keshav Maharaj.Sanju Samson earlier became the first Indian batter to score centuries in two consecutive T20I matches. Samson raced to his century in just 47 balls and his innings included seven fours and a whopping 10 sixes.
Suryakumar Yadav, India captain, said,Ā [on India’s record here at Durban, if he knew about it] Is it? I did not know about that, I just got to know now. We have not changed our brand of cricket in the last 3-4 series, very happy with the win. [on Samson] The amount of hard work he has put in over the last few years, doing the boring work, he is eating the fruits of that. He was in the 90s but still he was looking for a boundary, playing for the team which shows theĀ character of the man and that’s what we look for. [on getting the spinners in at a crucial stage] That was the plan, we were looking for the crucial wickets of Klaasen and Miller and the way they (spinners) delivered, it was incredible. [on if he is enjoying the captaincy] As I said already at the toss and the PC, boys have made my job easier, I don’t need to carry any baggage, the way they have been showing that fearless attitude, the boys are enjoying themselves on and off the field, which makes my job easier. The brand of cricket we play, even though we lose a few wickets, we want to play without fear. It’s a T20 game, we know we have 20 overs but if you can score 200 in 17 overs, why not.
Sanju Samson, Player of the Match, said,Ā Really enjoyed my time in the middle. Playing it well, maximum utilisation of my current form you can say. [on what is going right for him] The intent, we have been talking about being aggressive and keeping the team ahead of yourselves. Once you play three-four balls you are looking for the boundary, I’m not thinking much, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn’t, happy it worked out well today. [how important was it to start the series well?] It was very crucial,Ā knowing the home advantage South Africa has, they are a gun side and it was important to start the series well. Happy that we started with a win.