New Delhi: Indian spinners weaved a web around South Africa to deny them T20 World Cup 2024 final revenge after registering a gigantic victory in the first T20I match of the four-game series in Durban on Friday. Chasing a massive score of 203, the Proteas skittled out for 141 runs in 17.5 overs, in reply to India’s first innings score of 202/8. India took a 1-0 lead in the four-match series by virtue of a fabulous win.
Spinners Varun Chakaravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi were instrumental in team’s win with three wickets each while Arshdeep Singh claimed one and Avesh Khan clinched two wickets after Sanju Samson stole the show with a blazing century to power India to a mammoth total. After being hit for two consecutive boundaries in the first over, Arshdeep sent Proteas skipper Aiden Markram back to the pavilion for 8 runs.
The Proteas never looked comfortable in the chase as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals with Heinrich Klaasen being the top-scorer with 25 runs. Gerald Coetzee tried his hand with the bat with a quickfire 23 off 11 balls towards the end but could not take it further. This was the fifth successive T20I defeat for the Proteas in Durban.
Sanju Samson the showstopper
Prolific wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson became the first Indian batter to smash consecutive centuries after a brilliant ton in the first innings of the match. After India lost the wicket of Abhishek Sharma early in the innings for just 7, Samson continued his masterclass getting to his second century in the shortest format in just 47 deliveries. Unfortunately, the talented Indian batter lost his wicket on 107 off 50 balls including 7 boundaries and 10 massive sixes but he did the bulk of the scoring to put India in command.
Apart from Samson, Tilak Varma scored 33 runs while skipper Suryakumar Yadav scored 21 runs. For the Proteas, Gerald Coetzee claimed three wickets to be the pick of the bowlers while Marco Jansen, Patrick Kruger, and Nqabayomzi Peter claimed a wicket each. Keshav Maharaj also clinched a wicket for the hosts.
The second T20I of the series will be played on November 10, Sunday at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha.
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