Samson ton leads India to T20 win against South Africa
Durban, South Africa, AFP: Sanju Samson slammed a second successive Twenty20 international century to set up a 61-run win for India in the first of four matches against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday.
Opening batter Samson hit 10 sixes and seven fours in a spectacular innings of 107 off 50 balls in an Indian total of 202-8. It proved more than enough. Leg-spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi bowled in tandem and took three wickets apiece as South Africa crumbled to 141 all out.
Sanju Samson celebrates reaching his century – AFP
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.
“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.
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.
Suryakumar 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 -– losing six wickets and scoring only 35 runs in the last 5.2 overs of their innings after Tilak Varma (33) and Samson fell in quick succession.
“We just want to be fearless,” said Yadav.
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.
“It was a really good wicket. We would have loved to have made a much better start,” said Markram.
| SCORECARD | |
| India Sanju Samson c Stubbs b Peter 107 Abhishek Sharma c Markram b Coetzee 07 Suryakumar Yadav c Simelane b Kruger 21 Tilak Varma c Jansen b Maharaj 33 Hardik Pandya c Jansen b Coetzee 02 Rinku Singh c Klaasen b Coetzee 11 Axar Patel c Stubbs b Jansen 07 Arshdeep Singh not out 05 Ravi Bishnoi run out 01 Extras (nb3, w5) 08 Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 202 Did not bat: Avesh Khan, Ravun Chakravarthy Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Sharma, 3.1ov), 2-90 (Yadav, 8.6ov), 3-167 (Varma, 14.4ov), 4-175 (Samson, 15.4ov), 5-181 (Pandya, 16.5ov), 6-194 (R. Singh, 18.5ov), 7-199 (Patel, 19.1ov), 8-202 (Bishnoi, 19.6ov) Bowling: Marco Jansen 4-0-24-1, Aiden Markram 1-0-10-0, Keshav Maharaj 4-0-34-1, Gerald Coetzee 4-0-37-3, Nqabayomzi Peter 3-0-35-1, Patrick Kruger 2-0-35-1, Andile Simenale 2-0-27-0 South Africa Aiden Markram c Samson b A. Singh 08 Ryan Rickelton c Varma b Varun 21 Tristan Stubbs c Yadav b Khan 11 Heinrich Klaasen c Patel b Varun 25 David Miller c Khan b Varun 18 Patrick Kruger c Pandya b Bishnoi 01 Marco Jansen c Pandya b Bishnoi 12 Andile Simelane lbw b Bishnoi 06 Gerald Coetzee run out 23 Keshav Maharaj b Khan 05 Nqabayomzi Peter not out 05 Extras (w6) 06 Total (all out; 17.5 overs) 141 Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Markram, 0.4ov), 2-30 (Stubbs, 3.3ov), 3-44 (Rickelton, 5.2ov), 4-86 (Klaasen, 11.3ov), 5-87 (Miller, 11.5ov), 6-87 (Kruger, 12.1ov), 7-93 (Simelane, 12.5ov), 8-114 (Jansen, 14.6ov), 9-135 (Coetzee, 16.5ov), 10-141 (Maharaj, 17.5ov) Bowling: Arshdeep Singh 3-0-25-1, Avesh Khan 2.5-0-28-2, Hardik Pandya 3-0-27-0, Varun Charavarthy 4-0-25-3, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-28-3, Axar Patel 1-0-8-0 |