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Easy win for India over South Africa in first T20

───   ILSE SMALBERGER 10:11 Sat, 09 Nov 2024

Easy win for India over South Africa in first T20 | News Article
Indian opener Sanju Samson. Photo: Facebook

A stunning century by India opener Sanju Samson in Durban on Friday ensured the win for India against South Africa in the first match of a four-game T20 series.

The visitors beat the Proteas by an emphatic 61 runs.

South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl first. Samson smashed 107 off 50 balls – the quickest century in T20I cricket by an Indian batter against South Africa – before being caught by Tristan Stubbs off the bowling of Nqabayomzi Peter. 

The rest of the Indian innings was nothing to write home about, with the only other contributions of note coming from captain Suryakumar Yadav (21 off 17) and Tilak Varma (33 off 18).

At 167-2 in the 15th over, India looked on course for a score well over 200, but managed only another 35 runs in 32 balls for the loss of six wickets. They went on to post 202 for eight in their 20 overs.  Seamers Marco Jansen (1-24 in four overs) and former Knights player Gerald Coetzee (3-37) were the pick of the home attack.

South Africa struggled to find momentum during their reply with Heinrich Klaasen top-scoring with 25. Ryan Rickelton (21) and Gerald Coetzee (23) were the only other players who managed anything past 20. South Africa was eventually restricted to 141 all out in 17.5 overs for a comprehensive victory. 

Varun Chakravarty (3-24) and Ravi Bishnoi (3-28) were the pick of the Indian bowlers.

After the match, Protea captain Aidan Markram said the team wanted to get off to a better start with the bat and that’s where they lost the game.

“Sanju played incredibly well and put our bowlers under pressure. When a guy is striking like that, it is pretty hard to stop him and you have to take your hat off to him,” he said.

The second match of the series will be played in Gqeberha on Sunday.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger cg

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