SA vs IND, 1st T20I: Samson 107, Varun magic inspire India's Durban demolition job
India began their tour of South Africa in style hammering the hosts by 61 runs in the first T20I match in Durban. On November 8, Friday, Sanju Samson and Varun Chakravarthy combined to extend India's dominance on South Africa - the team they beat to clinch the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
The win helped India extend their unbeaten run at the venue, winning their 5th match in the venue out of 7 games. The beloved venue of the famous bowl-out between India and Pakistan, India once again put in a clinical performance with both bat and ball. Sent to bat first in overcast conditions, first India put up a 202/8 in the first innings and then successfully bowled out South Africa for 141 in 17.5 overs.
The win was orchestrated by a stunning 47-ball hundred from Sanju Samson and then a middle-overs block from Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi which choked out South Africa's famed middle-order line-up.
None among Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller and Tristan Stubbs were able to survive more than 25 balls against India's bowling unit, resulting in a crushing defeat for the side.
Sanju's Special Hundred
Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir's faith in Sanju Samson paid off as the wicketkeeper-batter created history in Durban. Samson became the first-ever India batter to hit back to back T20I hundreds. In fact, he became only the third batter from a Test playing nation to achieve the feat - after Phil Salt and Riley Russouw.
Sanju's century was laced with 7 boundaries and 10 sixes off 50 balls. The fluent innings saw Samson access all parts of the ground especially square of the wicket. There were many a times that Sanju did not reach the pitch of the ball, but adjusted with his superb wrists and slammed the balls past the boundary line with incredible ease.
The batter added important runs with Suryakumar Yadav and then Tilak Varma to help India get past 200 with relative ease despite a collapse in the death overs.
Sanju Dominates South Africa
Sanju Samson's terrific knock was the highlight of the Indian innings. The Rajasthan Royals captain started off slowly but lit up once South Africa fed spin to him in the powerplay. Samson overshadowed the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma who played useful cameos in the Indian innings.
India's batting was in a very good place when Samson was taking the attack to the bowlers, but lost momentum in the final third of the innings after Samson was dismissed in the 16th over. After Samson's dismissal, India lost Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patek and Ravi Bishnoi in quick succession marking a timid end to their innings.
At one point in time time, India were 162/2 in just 14 overs, threatening the T20I record book once again, just like they did against Bangladesh in Hyderabad. However, the dismissals of Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson in a space of 7 balls hurt the Indian innings.
Credit needs to be given to Gerald Coetzee who held his nerve and did a clinical job at the death, finishing with 3/37 - the best figures in the game. Coetzee, who had picked the wicket of Abhishek Sharma, removed Rinku Singh and Hardik Pandya at the fag end of the innings.
While the South Africa spinners failed terribly in the first innings, it was a completely different story in the second innings of the match. Ravi Bishnoi and Varun kept it wicket-to-wicket throughout the match and made life difficult for both Miller and Klaasen.
If the two IPL-experienced batters could not pick up the spin-bowling duo, what chance did the rest of the players have? After Bishnoi put in pressure from one end, Chakravarthy forced out release shots from both Miller and Klaasen resulting in the downfall for both men in the 12th over of the game.
After South Africa lost 5 wickets for just 87 runs, it was just a matter of time till the team folded.
Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj delayed South Africa's demise for a little bit, but India clinically bowled them out in 17.5 overs.
India have three more matches agianst South Africa in this tour. The next one will be played in St George's Park, Gqeberha on 10 November, at 7:30 PM IST.
