Team India bounced back from a humiliating defeat in Gqeberha to win the three-match ODI series against South Africa in Paarl in the decider on Thursday, December 21. Sanju Samson led India’s batting with a maiden ODI century, supported ably by Tilak Varma with a half-century and then the bowlers wrapped it up nicely as 296 eventually got too much to chase for the Proteas. The Indian team won the third match by 78 runs and hence the series 2-1 as KL Rahul became only the second captain after Virat Kohli to win an ODI series in South Africa for his country.
India lost the toss again and were put in to bat first by South Africa skipper Aiden Markram. India lost both the openers inside the powerplay and the Men in Blue made a tweak in the batting order by sending Sanju Samson at No. 3 and the wicketkeeper batter made it count. Samson, who has been in and out of the side far quite often, finally gave a performance that matched his talent and the hype, as he came of age in Paarl on Thursday.
The situation wasn’t ideal as by the 19th over India had also lost skipper KL Rahul and it wasn’t a T20 that he could hit his way out of trouble. So Samson had to be patient and grind his way out and he did that remarkably well. Samson curbed his natural instincts and made sure that he got his team out of trouble and in a position of strength. Tilak Varma played well alongside him for his maiden ODI fifty.
Samson got to his century off 110 balls as it took 40 matches to get to his first hundred for the country.
More to follow…