Sanju Samson century, spinners hand India big win in T20I series opener

India 202 for 8 (Samson 107) beat South Africa 141 (Chakravarthy 3-25, Bishnoi 3-28) by 61 runs

Sanju Samson struck his second successive T20I century, in just his fourth match, and shattered records and South African hopes at Kingsmead. His was the fastest T20I hundred by an Indian against South Africa and will be remembered as one of the most destructive.

For India, runs came mostly in boundaries: 17 fours and 13 sixes, including seven fours and 10 sixes for Samson. Overall, 88 of his 107 runs were scored in boundaries and he was particularly brutal square of the wicket. He scored 69 runs from 19 balls in the region between point and cover and square leg and mid-wicket, and only 13 runs behind square. Samson took on the spinners with gusto and scored 58 runs off the 27 balls he faced from Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj and Nqaba Peter combined. He also shared in two explosive stands: 66 runs off 37 balls with his captain Suryakumar Yadav and 77 runs off 34 balls with Tilak Varma. That meant India’s innings had middle-order momentum that South Africa could not match.

They may have thought they gave themselves a chance when they pulled India back at the end. South Africa were staring at conceding the highest total at Kingsmead and highest against India but after Samson’s dismissal in the 17th over, India scored 28 runs off 20 balls and lost four wickets. They still ended up with their fourth-highest total against South Africa, and it proved way too much.

South Africa were never in the chase as only three batters scored more than 20 and there was only one partnership of more than 30. The two legspiners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi took three wickets each and conceded 53 runs in their eight overs after Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan made the initial breakthroughs which all pointed to a more experienced Indian bowling line-up.

Gerald Coetzee’s comeback

It has been 166 days between internationals for Gerald Coetzee but it did not seem like he had been away a day. Given the ball in the fourth over, Coetzee immediately started with a full delivery outside off and found some extra bounce. Abhishek Sharma tried to get under it and clear mid-off but only got the ball over Markram in the ring. He ran backwards and took the catch over his shoulder to bring out an almighty roar from Coetzee, who has recovered from a hip injury and come back from a 12-week conditioning block.

The rest of the over did not go quite as well. India’s captain Suryakumar hit Coetzee over his head for four and then over fine leg for six to take 10 runs off his opening over. Coetzee closed out the Powerplay which India finished on 56 for 1. Coetzee also made an in-match comeback when he was called on to bowl at the death and had Hardik Pandya caught at deep point for just 2 and Rinku Singh caught behind with his penultimate ball.

Kruger’s timeless over which ended with a wicket

Patrick Kruger started off with what seemed like a good plan to keep India quiet – a slower ball that Suryakumar had to dig out but Samson was in no mood to be stopped by that. The next ball was also slower and hit over long-off. Kruger put in extra effort in response and overstepped. Then sent down a full toss. Then a wide, a no-ball and another wide and he still had three balls left to bowl. He got it right with a full delivery outside off, then pulled his length back and could not resist going back to pace off to end the over. His 11th ball was a knuckle ball which Suryakumar dragged to deep square leg where debutant Andile Simelane was stationed. He put the nerves aside to make his first contribution to the game, and not a moment too soon. Simelane was brought on as South Africa’s seventh bowler, in the 10th over.

Tilak too good to be left out

Tilak hit the second ball he faced with the wind over deep backward square for six as he joined in on the boundary hitting action. He sent the first ball of Peter’s second over between deep mid-wicket and deep backward square for four and then tore Kruger’s tactic to avoid the shorter leg-side boundary to shreds. He hit over backward point and slog swept over fine leg. His innings was cut short when he hit Maharaj to the deep backward square boundary where Marco Jansen took a good catch but his cameo gave India’s innings middle-order momentum.

Markram’s lean run continues, as does South Africa’s

It has been 25 innings and two years since Markram scored a T20I half-century and the run continued with a seventh single-figure score in this match. Markram looked especially out of sorts when he tried to play Arshdeep through mid-wicket but closed the face of the bat too early and got a faint edge to Samson to fall in the first over. That set the tone for an innings in which South Africa were never really able to get going. Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton were both dismissed in the Powerplay, which South Africa ended on 49 for 3. The combination of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller put on 42 in 6,1 overs but when they were separated, South Africa crumbled. They were bowled out inside 18 overs and were bowled out for their fourth-lowest score against India to lose the series opener by 61 runs.

Varun removes South Africa’s best

Chakravarthy took out South Africa’s two middle-order players and he got them in the space of three balls. In his final over, Klaasen tried to pull a slightly shorter ball but sent it straight to Axar Patel at long-on. And two balls later, Miller hit Chakravarthy to Avesh at square leg and South Africa went from 79 for 3 to 87 for 5 and were looking straight at defeat.