Sanju Samson’s breathtaking second century was beautifully complemented by spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi as India outclassed South Africa by a whopping 61 runs in the first T20 International to go 1-0 up in the four-match series here on Friday.
Often panned for not realizing 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 for 8 in 20 overs.
This despite India managing a mere 35 runs in the last five overs.
In reply, it was Varun (3/25 in 4 overs), who literally 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 (3/28 in 4 overs), 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 which Varun expertly capitalized on.
In the 13th over, Bishnoi followed Varun by getting a couple of wickets more as an Indian victory became a mere formality.
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On a reasonably good batting track, 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 breezy Durban evening with crosswinds blowing across the Kingsmead, Sanju showed Samson-like strength apart from the silken grace that one can associate with Rohit Sharma’s halcyon days.
There were pulled sixes off short balls from leg-spinner Nqabyomzi Peter and to length deliveries from pacers, he made room and tonked them down the ground.
The clarity in his shot selection and how cleverly he was always one-up on 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 new-found consistency and finding 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 when these three are present, they will have to make way for Samson rather than the other way round.
The best shot which would be etched in the memory for the longest time would be a lofted six over extra cover off seamer Andile Semilane where the batter holding the pose post execution was a sight to behold.
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 slipped in a generous number of dot balls to curtail the damage inflicted by Samson during the first 15 overs.
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