Sanju Samson was on a rampage during the fourth and final T20I against South Africa at the Wanderers on Friday (Nov 15), hitting his second hundred of the series and third in the last five games. Though he and Tilak Varma, fellow centurion, entertained the Johannesburg crowd with an excellent show, one of Samson’s nine sixes left a fan in the stands inconsolable after the ball deflected from the boundary boards only to hit her on the face.
The shot hit off Tristan Stubbs’ flighted delivery was hard, but the blow was harder, as replays showed how impactful it was. While the onlookers immediately jumped to her rescue, bringing her the ice pack as she continued weeping, Samson also raised his hand to apologise.
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He, however, wasn’t apologetic to the South African fans for the mauling he did to their bowlers in the game, which India won by a whopping 135 runs, claiming the four-match series 3-1.
After scores of 107, 0 and 0 in three contested matches against the Proteas thus far, Samson wanted to finish this series on a high, and he did that with utter dominance.
Opening alongside Abhishek Sharma in the series decider, Samson began with the onslaught, with the left-handed Sharma joining him soon.
The pair added 73 for the first wicket inside the Powerplay, but the real entertainment began afterwards.
With Tilak Varma coming in at number three, a position at which he slammed his maiden T20I hundred in the previous game, he continued from where he left off at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. The dynamite duo whacked every bowler to all parts of the ground, completing their hundreds, breaking records and creating history.
India hammered 283 runs for just one wicket in 20 overs, with Samson and Varma adding 210 for the second wicket.
Proteas no competition to India
Although the hosts won the second game at St George’s Park in Gqeberha while coming agonisingly close to winning the next one, chasing a daunting 284 turned out too much for them.
Following the worst possible start, where they were reduced to 10 for four inside the first three overs, with Arshdeep wreaking havoc with his three-wicket haul, David Miller and Stubbs stitched an 86-run stand for the fifth wicket. That partnership tried compensating for the horrible beginning but failed to get their team anywhere close to the chasing target, as South Africa got all out for 148, going down by 135 runs.
With this win, India finished 2024 with 24 victories out of 26 contested T20I matches, including winning their second T20 World Cup in the Americas early in June.
(With inputs from agencies)