The South African skipper Temba Bavuma admitted that was relieved and happy after his team managed to overcome Sanju Samson’s power-hitting in the final overs to secure a win in the rain-hit first ODI in Lucknow on Thursday.
“A good fight at the end, obviously Sanju pushed us at the end, but the boys stood firm and took us to the win. There wasn’t much grass on the surface, we lost a couple of wickets in the middle overs, myself and Aiden (Markram), but the boys knuckled down,” said Bavuma in the post-match presentation ceremony.
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He further praised his teammates David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen for building a good partnership to take the Proteas to a good score.
“Miller and Klaasen played positively, stung together a partnership and took us to a good score. Bowling upfront was good, in the first 15 overs by KG and Parnell. I thought we lost our way in the middle overs, gave away far too many runs, but at the end, the result did go our way and I’m happy with that,” Bavuma added.
South Africa managed to register 249/4, thanks to the attacking half-centuries by Klaasen (74 not out) and Miller (75 not out). In the run-chase, India’s top-order batting line up failed to contribute as skipper Shikhar Dhawan departed for four and his co-opener Shubman Gill went back to pavilion with just three runs.
However, Shreyas Iyer and Samson showcased courage in reaching close to the desired mark. Iyer scored a good half-century while the wicketkeeper-batter scored an unbeaten 86 off 63. However, despite Samson’s power-hitting shots, the Indian team fell short of nine runs and as a result South Africa took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
After the match, stand-in captain Dhawan also hailed Samson, Iyer and Shardul Thakur for their knocks as he said, “Quite proud of the way the boys played the game, we didn’t get a good start, the way Shreyas, Samson and Shardul batted was excellent.”
With the win, the Proteas have also earned crucial Super League points, which they desperately need to qualify for next year’s World Cup in India.
The two teams will now meet on October 9 (Sunday) for the second T20I in Ranchi.
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