IND vs SA | Internet reacts as Sanju Samson’s heroic batting goes in vain; South Africa win by nine runs

South Africa began their three-match ODI series against India with a hard-fought nine-run win in Lucknow. The Men in Blue, after being asked to chase 250, closed on 240/8. Sanju Samson tried hard, scoring an unbeaten 86 off 63 balls, but it was not enough to take his side past the finishing line. Samson got some support from Shreyas Iyer, who departed after hitting a 37-ball 50, but they required a bit more contributions from others in order to get a positive result.

For South Africa, Keshav Maharaj was clinical throughout his spell, returning excellent figures of 8-1-23-1. Kagiso Rabada (8-2-36-2), Wayne Parnell (8-1-38-1), and Lungi Ngidi (8-0-52-3) were among the wickets as well as they helped their side to end up on the winning side.

Earlier in the contest, Heinrich Klaasen (74* off 65 balls) and David Miller (75* off 63 balls) took South Africa to 249/4 after Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and asked them to bat. The Proteas were down to 110/4 at one stage before Klaasen and Miller held the fort and guided them to a challenging total. For India, Shardul Thakur impressed the most with the ball, returning 8-1-35-2, but received little support from his teammates.

He did well today

There is no pride in defeat

Lone wolf

Spectacular

What a knock!

Sanju bhai

They absolutely loved it!

Fire

superb

He won love all the love!