India defeated South Africa by 61 runs in the first of the T20I at Kingsmead on Friday. Batting first, India posted a huge total of 202 losing eight wickets, riding on a fine century by Sanju Samson. South Africa were restricted for 141.
The spinners were the pick of the bunch among a young side, with Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi sharing six wickets, picking up three each. Chakravarthy took the important wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, while Bishnoi swept up the lower middle order to hand South Africa a big defeat. Pacer Avesh Khan got two wickets and Arshdeep Singh got one in the match.
Having won the toss, the Proteas put the Suryakumar Yadav-led Men in Blue to bat first. Although, India lost, Abhishek Sharma in the fourth over, Samson powered through alongside the skipper. After Yadav’s dismissal, helped by Tilak Verma Samson went past the century mark. When South Africa finally dismissed him, India were at 175/4 and poised for a massive total with 16th over running. However, the home side got back in the game, picking up quick wickets to put the brakes on the free-flowing Indian side.
The Indian lower order took the team past the 200-run mark posting a challenging target of 203 to win. In response, the Indian bowling attack kept taking wickets at regular intervals, not allowing South Africa to get a hold of the game. Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton were the top contributors with 25 and 21 respectively. Towards, the end, Gerald Coetzee looked dangerous, but the bowlers showed grit and managed to bowl the team out.
India take a 1-0 lead in the four match series with the next game set to be held on Sunday at 7:30 pm at St George’s Oval.
