By Mercy Kosgei
Previously South Africa had lost 0-3 to West Indies and had drawn 1-1 to Ireland while India, this would be there 10 match wins after they had previously lost to Zimbabwe just after the T20 World cup final. Aiden Markram South Africa’s captain won the toss and therefore had an opportunity to bat first. The duo spinners Varun Chakravarthy scored (3-25 in four overs) and Rari Bishnoi claimed (3-28) respectively set a very good momentum for South Africa to attack.
South Africa seemed to struggle from the beginning at their chase where they were losing wickets at regular intervals. This all began when Markram drive for boundaries led to wonderful delivery from Arshdeep Singh who was at the left to Samson the wicketkeeper. This left South Africa at 44 for three and holding on to their big hope Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller who were dismissed after some time after they were caught in a deep.
On the other hand, India led by Samson the opener was constantly seeking and stretching boundaries and scoring back-to-back. This was after he was able to record 11 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad and last month having recorded 107 against South Africa.
Despite the presence of regular openers, left-handed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill who was appointed deputy to Suryakumar both were now back., Samson stood the test of time of fighting for a permanent position. The two openers who were now back were really known for their ability to complement each other very accurately, understanding and familiar with batting together at test series.
Sanju was able to score 107 from 50 balls featuring 7 fours and incredible 10 sixes during the first innings, this indicated a strong total for India. That indicated elegance and effortlessness by Sanju Samson where in the previous six games, he had been able to score three hundred.
South Africa was able to restrict India to only 35 runs for 4 wickets having Coetzee who completed at 3-35 off four overs and Jansen completed 1-24 off quota.
In a post-match interview Sanju said,” Enjoyed my time out there in the middle. I made maximum utilization of my current form one can say. The intent we have been talking about being aggressive and keeping the team ahead of yourselves. Once you play three to four balls you are looking for the boundary.”
The losers in a post-match interview specifically Proteas skipper Aden Markram said,” I think the main reason we lost the game was our poor start. We would have liked a much better start. I don’t think the toss was an issue. I must congratulate Sanju Samson for good knock and there was little we could do to stop him. I was proud of death bowlers, however, for restricting India to 35 off last overs.
