Samson's heroics forced to take a backseat as Miller, Klaasen stun the Blues

David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen in first ODI (PC: Twitter)

South Africa held off a charging Sanju Samson in the first ODI to claim the opening honours of their three-match series. David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen blasted turbo-charging half-centuries upfront, after the visitors were invited to bat first in a rain-curtailed 40-over contest.

Sanju Samson’s magnum opus in vain

The South Africans mounted 249-4, with in-form David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen clubbing sparkling 70s in the innings. The two cricketers staged an unbroken 139-run stand to lift the Proteas total, which was 110-4 at one stage.

Miller minted 75* from 63 balls while Klaasen whacked 74* off 65 and the duo accounted for each of the five sixes clubbed during the innings.

India’s response launched with four wickets inside the first 18 overs, with the batters maintaining a run-rate of less than three an over. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill both fell within the double digits before Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and Shardul Thakur marked a rebellious comeback in the run-chase.

Iyer, a T20 World Cup standby for India, notched up a well-crafted 50 while Samson slammed his career best score of 86* from just 63 deliveries. Despite the latter’s best efforts in the death overs, the ‘Men in Blue’ fell short of the Proteas by nine runs.

For the visitors, senior speedsters Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada inflicted the most damage to the second-string Indian batting line-up, as the duo snared five wickets from their combined 16 overs.

Brief scores:

South Africa: 249-4 (40)

David Miller 75* (63), Heinrich Klaasen 74* (65)
Shardul Thakur 2-35, Kuldeep Yadav 1-39

India: 240-8 (40)

Sanju Samson 86* (63), Shreyas Iyer 50 (37)
Lungi Ngidi 3-52, Kagiso Rabada 2-36

South Africa won by 9 runs

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