Sanju Samson’s spectacular second century was nicely complemented by spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi as India bowled out South Africa by a whopping 61 runs in the first T20 International to go 1-0 up in the four-match series on Friday. Samson, who was often criticized for not recognizing the minefield of his talent, became the first Indian batter to hit back-to-back centuries in T20 Internationals as his 50-107 with as many as 10 monster sixes took India to 202 for 8. 20 overs. This was despite India scoring just 35 runs in the last five overs.
In reply, Varun (3/25 off 4 overs) literally killed the contest by setting Heinrich Klaasen (25 off 22 balls) and David Miller (18 off 22 balls) in the space of three deliveries in the 12th over with South Africa bowling out 141 for 17.5 overs.
But no amount of praise is enough for Bishnoi (3/28 in 4 overs), who brilliantly took 3/28 in 4 overs. In the 11th over, he bowled Miller five dot balls in a row, leaving the South African batter struggling to read his googly as the pressure mounted on the Proteas, which Varun took advantage of ably.
In the 13th over, Bishnoi followed Varun with a couple more wickets as India’s victory became a mere formality.
In a reasonably good score, the Varun-Bishnoi duo bowled 27 dot balls between them after Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan did the initial damage.
Sanju: The Real Samson
On a blustery evening in Durban, with a crosswind blowing across Kingsmead, Sanju displayed the strength of Samson, apart from the silky grace one might associate with the halcyon days of Rohit Sharma.
Nkabemzi Peter pulled sixes off short balls and on long balls from the pacers he made room and dropped them to the ground.
The clarity in his shot selection and how adroitly he always outclassed the South Africans in terms of using their fielding positions to his advantage spoke volumes about his progress as a batter in recent times. The best thing about Samson is his newfound consistency and ability to find his mojo as an opener in the shortest format.
Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the two regular openers, are currently busy with Test commitments along with Rishabh Pant, but even with these three present, they will have to make way for Samson and not the other way around.
The best shot that would live long in the memory would be a six over extra cover from seamer Andil Semilane, where the batter could be seen holding the posture after execution.
He added 66 runs in just 5.5 overs with Suryakumar Yadav (21) and another 77 with Tilak Varma (33) in 5.4 overs.
His performance pushed the score estimate close to 250, but pacers Gerald Coetzee (3/37 in 4 overs) and Marco Jansen (1/24 in 4 overs) played the death game brilliantly, not only taking wickets but also slipping in a generous game. number of dot balls to reduce the damage done by Samson in the first 15 overs.
Topics mentioned in this article
Leave a comment