South Africa vs India, 1st T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

That ends things from this game. The second game is on the 10th of November at Gqeberha. We will be there to bring it to you. Do join us then. Until next time, don't forget to follow all the action live and the analyses on this website as we bring it to you. See you soon. Bye.

Suryakumar Yadav | India captain: [on India's record here at Durban, if he knew about it] Is it? I did not know about that, I just got to know now. We have not changed our brand of cricket in the last 3-4 series, very happy with the win. [on Samson] The amount of hard work he has put in over the last few years, doing the boring work, he is eating the fruits of that. He was in the 90s but still he was looking for a boundary, playing for the team which shows the character of the man and that's what we look for. [on getting the spinners in at a crucial stage] That was the plan, we were looking?for the crucial wickets of Klaasen and Miller and the way they (spinners) delivered, it was incredible. [on if he is enjoying the captaincy] As I said already at the toss and the PC, boys have made my job?easier, I don't need to carry any baggage, the way they have been showing that fearless attitude, the boys are enjoying themselves on and off the field, which makes my job easier. The brand of cricket we play, even though we lose a few wickets, we want to play without fear. It's a T20 game, we know we have 20 overs but if you can score 200 in 17 overs, why not.

Aiden Markram | South Africa captain: [if the toss decision of his played a part in hindsight] Not so much about the toss. Both new-balls did a bit with?the extra bounce, it was consistent?in the two innings. Once the newish ball wore?out, it played well. We wanted to get off to a better start and that is where we lost the game. Sanju played incredibly well, put our bowlers under pressure, plans?to negate him and better plans will help us going forward. Once he is striking?like that, it's pretty hard to stop and you take your hat off to him. We had a couple?of meetings?today with who were bowling the death overs, incredibly proud?with the two (Coetzee and Jansen) and a really big positive for us tonight. [on plans for the next game] From an individual point of view they will understand where they can get better and then meet as a batting and bowling group, you don't fix it in the nets, it's more about the approach and tactical point of view.

Sanju Samson | Player of the Match: Really enjoyed my time in the middle. Playing it well, maximum utilisation of my current form you can say. [on what is going right for him] The intent, we have been talking about being aggressive and keeping the team ahead of yourselves. Once you play three-four balls you are looking for the boundary, I'm not thinking much, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't, happy it worked out well today. [how important was it to start the series well?] It was very crucial, knowing the home advantage South Africa has, they are a gun side and it was important to start the series well. Happy that we started with a win.

Most T20I wins in a calendar year
29 Uganda in 2023 (Win% 87.9)
28 India in 2022 (70.0%)
22 India in 2024 (95.6) *
21 Tanzania in 2022 (72.4%)
20 Pakistan in 2020 (69.0%)

20:41 Local Time, 18:41 GMT, 00:11 IST: Comprehensive from India and they keep their good record at Durban intact. Arshdeep set the tone with the wicket of Markram in the first over and then the spinners took over. Both Bishnoi and Varun were superb as they built the pressure and shared 6 wickets among themselves. 8 overs for those 6 wickets for 53 runs and that's where the game was won. South Africa were not allowed to break free and one dangerous batter after the other fell. Coetzee used the long handle well before he was run-out and soon after Avesh Khan ended things by bowling Maharaj. The scorecard pressure was nicely built up by the Indians and apart from a few drops in the field, their bowling was in fine fettle. So India go 1-0 up. Stay tuned for the presentation...

Stat: Fifth consecutive defeat for South Africa in Durban - the most in succession for them at a venue in T20 Internationals. Their last win at this venue came in March 2016.

Avesh Khan to Maharaj, out Bowled!! Avesh Khan finishes things off. Sneaks the full delivery under the drive of Maharaj and the ball clatters into off-stump. SKY still has a few pieces of advice for Avesh Khan after that dismissal. India win this easily. Maharaj b Avesh Khan 5(9)

Avesh Khan to Maharaj, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Avesh Khan to Nqabayomzi Peter, 1 run, wide of the crease and fires in the yorker on middle, driven to long-on

Avesh Khan to Nqabayomzi Peter, FOUR, short of length outside off, Nqabayomzi Peter pulls straight down the ground and nearly takes the ump on the way, he does well to evade it and it runs away

Avesh Khan to Maharaj, 1 run, Ramandeep at deep backward square-leg nearly pulls off a blinder diving forward. Pulled in the air and he covers ground to his left, but fails to hang on as he dives forward

Avesh Khan to Maharaj, no run, hard back of a length outside off, Maharaj pulls and misses

Avesh Khan [2.0-0-22-1] is back into the attack

Arshdeep Singh to Nqabayomzi Peter, no run, a low full-toss outside off from round the wicket, Nqabayomzi Peter drives to backward point and Pandya dives to his left to stop

Nqabayomzi Peter, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Arshdeep Singh to Maharaj, out Gerald Coetzee Run Out!! Confusion between Maharaj and Gerald Coetzee and the latter goes. A a juicy low full-toss outside off, mistimed drive to extra-cover and both are in the middle of the pitch, SKY takes aim and hits the top of the stumps at the bowler's end. Coetzee is well short. He was looking good with a few big hits but now walks back. Gerald Coetzee run out (Suryakumar Yadav) 23(11) [6s-3]

Arshdeep Singh to Maharaj, THATS OUT!! Run Out!!

Arshdeep Singh to Maharaj, 2 runs, a a juicy low full-toss outside off, slapped wide of long-off and Ramandeep the sub does superbly, gets across and cuts it off with a dive to his left

Arshdeep Singh to Maharaj, no run, slower-ball and wide outside off, Maharaj tries to drive and misses, just inside the marker