Slow bowlers and Samson century carry India to victory over Proteas in first T20

India spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi spun a web around the Proteas batting line to help their side claim a comfortable 61-run win in the first T20 in Durban on Friday.

Bishnoi and Chakravarthy shared six wickets while conceding a combined 53 runs from eight overs, a display which ultimately saw India restrict South Africa to 141 all out inside 18 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the four match series.

India posted 202/8 courtesy of a superb century by Sanju Samson.

Chasing 203 runs for victory, the Proteas were in early trouble with their top three out for 49 runs in the power play.

Skipper Aiden Markram (8) struck two fours to start his innings, but couldn't navigate the third ball off Arshdeep Singh, which found his outside edge to wicketkeeper Samson.

Tristan Stubbs followed soon after, scoring 11 before he was caught by Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav before Ryan Rickelton perished for 21 off Varun Chakravarthy, reducing the home side to 49/3 at the end of the power play.

As the field was spread out, and the spin introduced at both ends, the Proteas found the going extremely tough, adding just 44 runs as Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi tormented the South African batters to share the next four wickets.

Chakravarthy removed the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen (25) and David Miller (18) to finish with 3/25 while Bishnoi took care of Patrick Kruger (1) and Andile Simelane (6), as South Africa slipped to 93-7 after 13 overs.

Bishnoi grabbed his third of the match with the removal of Marco Jansen for 12, returning figures of 3/28 and the writing seemingly on the wall for the hosts, who sat on 114/8, still 89 runs behind.

Gerald Coetzee blasted 23 off 11, but it was nowhere near enough as the last two wickets of Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj fell in the 17th and 18th overs respectively to close out the match.

After being sent in to bat by South Africa, the deceptive right-hander struck seven fours and 10 sixes in his 107 run innings, spending 75 minutes in the middle, and sharing in two half century stands with Tilak Varma (77) and Suryakumar Yadav (66) to torment the hosts’ bowling attack.

Right-arm quick Coetzee grabbed three wickets, disposing of Abishek Sharma (7), Hardik Pandya (2) and Rinku Singh (11) to finish with figures of 3/37 from his four overs.

Kruger, who went for 15 runs in the ninth over, removed Yadav for 21 to end the partnership with India on 90/2 in the ninth over while Keshav Maharaj removed Varma for 33 to reduce the visitors to 167/3 at the end of the 15th over.

Nqaba Peter grabbed the prized wicket of Samson, caught by Stubbs for 107 as India reached 175/4.

India’s last four wickets fell for just 27 runs, as Coetzee accounted for Pandya and Singh, while Jansen grabbed the wicket of Axar Patel (7) before Bishnoi (1) was run out, as both wickets fell in the final over.