DURBAN: Spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi spun a web to strangle the middle-order after Sanju Samson hammered a superb century as India thrashed South Africa by 61 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series at the Kingsmead Cricket Stadium here on Friday. India have never lost a T20I match at this ground and maintained their record with a comprehensive win. This is India's fifth win in six T20Is since the T20 World Cup triumph.
Chakravarthy, returning to the T20I side after a gap of three years, and fellow T20 specialist spinner Bishnoi bowled superb lines, mixed up their deliveries brilliantly to tie-down the South African batters in the middle overs as the hosts chased a massive target of 203.
In frustration, the South African batters tried to hit their way out of trouble but failed to do so as Chakravarthy claimed 3-25 while Bishnoi bagged 3-28 as India maintained their dominance over South Africa after defeating the Proteas in the T20 World Cup final a few weeks back. South Africa were never in the chase and were bowled out for 141 in 17.5 overs as India started the series on a winning note.
The Indians came up with a brilliant all-round performance after Sanju Samson set them up with a scintillating 50-ball 107, becoming the first Indian batter to score centuries in back-to-back T20Is.
In response, South Africa landed in trouble early, losing skipper Aiden Markram to Arshdeep Singh on the fourth ball of the innings, edging behind to Samson. From 8/1, they fell to 3-44 with Tristan Stubbs (11) and Ryan Rickelton (21) joining the skipper in the pavilion.
Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller shared a 42 run partnership for the fourth wicket but after being hit for a bit six, Chakravarthy accounted for the South African big-hitter and then claimed the wicket of Miller a ball later to reduce South Africa to 87/5. Bishnoi too bagged two wickets in an over, sending back Patrick Kruger (1) and Andile Simelane (6) in the 12th over as South Africa fell to 93/7.Avesh Khan claimed two wickets as only four South African batters reached double figures.
Earlier, Sanju Samson continued from where he left off in the third T20I against Bangladesh, hammering a second successive century in T20Is as India reached a daunting total of 202/8 after being asked to bat first.
Samson scored 107 runs in 50 deliveries as he became the first Indian player to hit centuries in back-to=back T20I. His scintillating innings saw the 29-year-old blitz seven boundaries and 10 sixes as he raced to the fastest century by an Indian against the Proteas in a T20I game.
With overcast skies and rain making the playing conditions in favour of the bowlers, and Marco Jansen conceding only two runs in the opening over, the Indian batters were expected to have a tough time in the middle after the hosts won the toss and elected to bowl first.
But Samson carried his form from the series against Bangladesh and started creating havoc from the second over. Both Samson and Abhishek Sharma (7) whacked the ball, off Markram’s bowling, for a boundary each in the second over and the former hit a four and six off Keshav Maharaj’s opening two balls in the very next over.
Just when India seemed to be taking the upper hand in the game, Gerald Coetzee made the breakthrough with his first delivery. A back of the length delivery saw Sharma try to clear long-on but failed to hit the middle of the bat and was caught by Markram, who made no mistake despite being in a tricky position while running back from mid-on.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (21) joined Samson, who was dealing in boundaries, and showed his intent by hitting the ball straight over the head of Coetzee later in the over. Both batters continued their aggressive approach and India reached 56/1 at the end of the Power-play. Desperate to break the partnership which was taking threatening proportion, Markram introduced Patrick Kruger in the attack in ninth over. Despite bowling five extras and conceding 15 runs, Kruger claimed the important wicket of Yadav off the final delivery to reduce India to 90/2.
Out came Tilak Varma (33) and the 22-year-old, along with Samson, boosted the ever-growing run-rate and took India to the 150-run milestone in the 14th overs. Samson continued his onslaught and reached his historic century in 47 deliveries in the 15th over but Maharaj got the wicket of Varma later in the same over.
Attempting to shift gears, Samson decided to target Peter Nqabayomzi in the next over and despite hitting the second ball of the over far into the stands departed in the same over. A short ball Samson launch into into the sky and Tristian Stubbs pouched an impressive catch right on the boundary-line to send the centurion back to the pavilion. Samson and Varma shared a 77-run partnership that set up the stage for India to reach a massive total.
Brief scores:
India 202/8 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 107, Tilak Varma 33; Gerald Coetzee 3-37) beat South Africa 141 all out in 17.5 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 25, Gerald Coetzee 23; Varun Chakravarthy 3-25, Ravi Bishnoi 3-28, Avesh Khan 2-28) by 61 runs