Samson's thrashing of the Protea bowlers, says Markram

Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav had already threatened. He informed South Africa that the hosts will have to see the destructive form of India. Then opener Sanju Samson made the leader's ambition a reality. He thrashed the South African bowlers. The Indian wicketkeeper batsman played an aggressive innings of 107 runs off 50 balls.

Samson blew the South Pacers like cotton in Durban on Friday. 88 of the 107-run innings of this right-handed batsman came from the boundary. Hit 10 sixes with 7 fours. But the rest of the teammates hit only 3 sixes. South Africa lost to India by 61 runs in the first T20I of the 4-match series on the day of Samson's monster.

Samson completed his century in just 47 balls. This is the record for the fastest T20 century by an Indian batsman against South Africa.

In the previous T20, Samson played an innings of 111 runs off 47 balls after beating the Bangladeshi bowlers badly in Hyderabad. This marquee batsman made the record of being the first Indian batsman to score back to back centuries in T20.

South African captain Aiden Markram spoke about Samson's devastating batting after the match. The Proteas skipper believes they lost mainly to Samson.

Markram said the Proteas wanted to get off to a good start with the ball. The way the Indian opener played, made things difficult for the hosts. South Africa could not find a way to stop Samson.

“We wanted to start better and that's where we lost,” said the Proteas captain. Sanju played incredibly well. Put pressure on our bowlers. A plan to stop him (Samson) and a better plan will help us move forward. Once he (Samson) starts killing like that, it's pretty hard to stop. You must pay him your respects.'

“Objectively we talked about being aggressive and putting the team first,” Samson said after the match. Once you bowl three-four balls, you look for boundaries. But I don't think much of it. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Did it well today (yesterday), so happy.'

MH/MS