Team India made a strong start to the South Africa tour thanks to opener Sanju Samson’s second consecutive century. India defeated the host South African team by 61 runs in the first T20I match played in Durban to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series. Batting first, India scored 202 runs losing 8 wickets in 20 overs with a brilliant century by Sanju Samson. In response, the South African team was reduced to 141 runs in 17.5 overs in front of the sharp bowling of Chakraborty (three wickets) and Bishnoi (three wickets). In this way India registered its 11th consecutive win in T20I cricket. Sanju Samson was awarded the Player of the Match award for his stormy innings of 107 runs. Sanju scored 107 runs in 50 balls with the help of 7 fours and 10 sixes and created a series of records.
Sanju Samson made a series of records in the first T20I match against South Africa:-
- Sanju Samson became the fourth batsman to score centuries in two consecutive T20I matches. Before this, this big feat was done only by Gustave McKeon of France, Riley Russo Rosso of South Africa and Phil Salt of England.
- Sanju Samson is only the second batsman in the world to score two or more T20I centuries as a wicketkeeper. Earlier this record was only in the name of Leslie Adrian Dunbar of Serbia.
- Sanju Samson became the Indian batsman to score the highest score in a T20I match against South Africa. Earlier this record was in the name of Rohit Sharma, who had played an inning of 106 runs in the year 2015 at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.
- Sanju Samson set the record for the highest individual score by an Indian in T20I matches on South African soil. Earlier this record was in the name of Suryakumar Yadav, who had played an inning of 100 runs at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg in December last year.
- Sanju Samson scored the fourth highest score in T20I against South Africa. In this case, the record of the highest score is in the name of Babar Azam (122). After that comes Johnson Charles (118) and Chris Gayle (117).
- Sanju Samson became the joint seventh fastest Indian along with Robin Uthappa to score 7000 runs in T20Is. He achieved this feat in his 269th innings.
- Sanju Samson has become the highest batsman to score 218 runs for India in two consecutive T20I innings. He broke the record of Ruturaj Gaikwad. Gaikwad had the record of scoring 181 runs in 2 consecutive innings.