India-South Africa T20I Series: Samson’s night

Sanju Samson’s breathtaking century was beautifully complemented by spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi as India outclassed South Africa by 61 runs in the first T20 International to go 1-0 up in the four-match series here on Friday.

Often panned for not realising the minefield of talent that he is, Samson became the first Indian batter to hit back-to-back centuries in T20 Internationals as his 50-ball-107, with as many as 10 monstrous sixes, took India to 202/8 in 20 overs. This despite India managing a mere 35 runs in the last five overs.

Varun (3/25 in 4 overs) then killed the contest by getting 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 being shot out for 141 in 17.5 overs.

But no praise is enough for Bishnoi, who delivered a brilliant spell of 3/28 in 4 overs. In the 11th over, he bowled five consecutive dot balls to Miller, leaving the South African batter struggling to read his googlies as pressure mounted on the Proteas.

In the 13th over, Bishnoi followed Varun by getting a couple of wickets more as an Indian victory became a mere formality.

On a reasonably good batting track, the Varun-Bishnoi duo bowled 27 dot balls after Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan did the initial damage.

On a breezy evening with crosswinds blowing across the Kingsmead, Sanju showed Samson-like strength apart from silken grace that one can associate with Rohit Sharma’s halcyon days. There were pulled sixes off short balls from leg-spinner Nqabyomzi Peter. To length deliveries from pacers, he made room and smashed down the ground.

The clarity in his shot selection and how cleverly he was always one up on the South Africans in terms of using their field placings to his advantage spoke volumes of his improvement as a batter in recent times. The best part about Samson is his newfound consistency and finding his mojo as an opener in the shortest format. 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 raised visions of a score of close to 250 but pacers Gerald Coetzee (3/37 in 4 overs) and Marco Jansen (1/24 in 4 overs) bowled brilliantly at the death to not only get wickets but also slip in a generous number of dot balls to curtail the damage inflicted by Samson during the first 15 overs.

Brief scores: India: 202/8 in 20 overs (Samson 107, Verma 33; Coetzee 3/37); South Africa: 141 all out in 17.5 overs (Klaasen 25; Chakaravarthy 3/25, Bishnoi 3/28).