South Africa and India are currently facing off against each other in the first of the four-match T20I series at the Kingsmead in Durban. Proteas captain, Aiden Markram, won the toss and elected to bowl first. Sanju Samson, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter, put on a show with the bat while opening the innings.
He smashed his second T20I century and his consecutive T20I century after scoring a century in the previous game against Bangladesh in Hyderabad.
Samson took the attack to the bowlers and scored 107 runs off 50 deliveries with a strike rate of 214. He hit seven fours and ten sixes during the innings. Samson has become the fourth batter to score consecutive T20I centuries.
He has joined the list with Mckeon, Rossow, and Phil Salt. Twitter has reacted to his century in the first T20I against South Africa.
Here’s how Twitter has reacted to Samson’s knock:
Sanju Samson smashed 10 sixes during his innings in Durban
The star from Kerala has also become the first Indian batter to score consecutive T20I centuries. Samson also became the joint India batter with the former Indian T20I captain, Rohit Sharma, to smash the most sixes during a T20I innings. He was struggling with consistency in this format in international cricket and hence was not getting regular chances in the side. However, from the home series against Bangladesh, Samson was trusted by Head Coach, Gautam Gambhir, and was picked to open the innings. The Rajasthan Royals captain has repaid the trust and faith placed on him.
Meanwhile, Proteas captain Aiden Markram wanted to bowl first after winning the toss. He wanted to use the moisture on the wicket due to the rain that has been happening in Durban for the last week or so. Markram talked about how these matches are a chance to test the new players and grow as a T20I team by getting positive results.
On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav also wanted to bat first after winning the toss and hence he was happy with what turned out even after losing the toss. He felt that the wicket was a good wicket to bat on and hence wanted his batters to put the runs on the board by batting first. SKY praised the fearless approach with which his team’s batters have been playing and this has made his job easier.
