Sanju Samson scored a scintillating century as India defeated South Africa by 61 runs in the first T20I here on Friday.
Invited to bat, Samson blazed away to 107 off 50 balls, hitting as many as 10 sixes and seven fours to help India post 202 for 8.
Sanju Samson's breathtaking second century was beautifully complemented by spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi as India outclassed South Africa by a whopping 61 runs in the first T20 International to go 1-0 up in the four-match series here on Friday.
Often panned for not realizing the minefield of talent that he is, Samson became the first Indian batter to hit back-to-back centuries in T20 Internationals. His 50-ball 107 with as many as 10 monstrous sixes took India to 202 for 8 in 20 overs.
The spin duo of Varun Chakaravarthy (3/25) and Ravi Bishnoi (3/28) then shared six wickets between them to bowl out South Africa for 141 in 17.5 overs.
Earlier, Samson became the first Indian to score back-to-back centuries in T20Is.
The opener notched his second T20I hundred off just 47 balls. His first had come in India's last outing against Bangladesh last month.
However, South Africa clawed their way back into the game as they stemmed the flow of runs by picking wickets in the last five overs.
Pacer Gerald Coetzee who claimed three wickets was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts.
For India, Bishnoi (3/28 in 4 overs), delivered a brilliant spell of 3/28 in 4 overs. In the 11th over, he bowled five consecutive dot balls to Miller, leaving the South African batter struggling to read his googlies as pressure mounted on the Proteas which was expertly capitalized on by Varun.
In the 13th over, Bishnoi followed Varun by getting a couple of wickets more as an Indian victory became a mere formality.
On a reasonably good batting track, Varun-Bishnoi duo bowled 27 dot balls between them after Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan did the initial damage.
Scoreboard: South Africa: Aiden Markram c Samson b Arshdeep Singh 8 Ryan Rickelton c Tilak Varma b Varun Chakaravarthy 21 Tristan Stubbs c Suryakumar Yadav b Avesh Khan 11 Heinrich Klaasen c Axar b Varun Chakaravarthy 25 David Miller c Avesh Khan b Varun Chakaravarthy 18 Patrick Kruger c Hardik Pandya b Ravi Bishnoi 1 Marco Jansen c Hardik Pandya b Ravi Bishnoi 12 Andile Simelane lbw b Ravi Bishnoi 6 Gerald Coetzee run out (Suryakumar Yadav) 23 Keshav Maharaj b Avesh Khan 5 Nqabayomzi Peter not out 5 Extras: (W-6 ) 6 Total: (all out in 17.5 overs) 141 Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-30, 3-44, 4-86, 5-87, 6-87, 7-93, 8-114, 9-135, 10-141.
Bowling: Arshdeep Singh 3-0-25-1, Avesh Khan 2.5-0-28-2, Hardik Pandya 3-0-27-0, Varun Chakaravarthy 4-0-25-3, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-28-3, Axar Patel 1-0-8-0.
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