Sanju Samson’s late blitz goes in vain as South Africa surge 1-0 ahead in the ODI series

If the ire of the rain gods weren’t enough, Team India had to further bear the brunt of a sour start to the series as the Proteas barely escaped by the skin of their teeth at Lucknow. In a rain-curtailed encounter where 10 overs per innings was lost to the conditions, Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to bat first.

The South Africans couldn’t get the early pyrotechnics going as Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock failed to shirk off the initial jitters. After a wobbly start, the visitors managed to string together a couple of important boundaries but it had very minimal impact on the scoring rate as Shardul Thakur struck twice in quick succession to destabilize the Proteas' top-order.

Kuldeep Yadav produced an absolute ripper that breezed past Markram’s defence to shatter his timbre while Ravi Bishnoi struck again to remove a set de Kock. Despite all the early infringements, the Indians couldn’t hold keep the Proteas on the mat, and the visitors managed to break free, courtesy of a counter-attacking display from Heinrich Klaasen and another commanding knock from David Miller.

The duo posted an unbeaten stand of 139 runs for the 5th wicket that saw them taking the Indian bowlers to the cleaners. Despite Dhawan’s desperation to try varied avenues of bowling attacks, the fifth-wicket partnership blunted all missile-heads and left a mountain to scale for the Indian batters.

Much to India’s woes, their top-order didn’t fire at all as the experienced Shikhar Dhawan was back to the pavilion for a paltry 4 while Shubman Gill could only add 3. Despite bettered figures, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan conjured very little to leave India teetering at 51 for the loss of 4 in the 18th over.

Shreyas Iyer walked in the middle and took it upon himself to forge a rebuild and pressed the pedal hard as the South Africans started feeling the heat for the first time in the second half of the contest. Sanju Samson was happy to hang in the middle while Iyer unleashed his fury that saw him stitch together a brilliant 50 from 37 balls.

Shardul Thakur was in next and pulled off a decent show to keep the Indian ship afloat while Sanju Samson started doffing his husk. After prolonged bouts of being contained, India brought out the heavy artillery as the required rate burgeoned out of proportions while Samson led the charge almost single-handedly in the end.

With 30 to win off the final over, Samson did manage to pile up 14 runs in the first three balls but eventually couldn’t finish things off as Tabraiz Shamsi held his nerve to eventually come out on top.

Despite the defeat, the Men in Blue would take heart from this valiant display, especially that witnessed their middle-order putting up a fight without any sheen on it and almost surpassing past a full-strength South Africa with a theatrical flourish. India’s next stop will be at Ranchi where they will be playing the second ODI, hoping to restore parity in the series.