South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI Stats Review: Sanju Samson’s maiden international century, KL Rahul’s achievement and other stats

Sanju Samson finally announced himself with his maiden international century while Arshdeep Singh picked up figures of 4/30 (9) as India defeated South Africa by a margin of 78 runs in the third and final one-day international in Paarl to clinch the series 2-1. With this, KL Rahul became only the second Indian skipper after Virat Kohli to win an ODI series on South African soil.

Speaking about how the series decider panned out, captain Aiden Markram won the toss, and the Proteas elected to field first. Rajat Patidar, who made his debut, played a cameo of 22 off 16 with three fours and a maximum. His opening partner Sai Sudharsan got dismissed for ten off 16. Coming in to bat at No. 3, Samson looked in good touch as he went on to register his maiden international ton. The right-handed batter smashed 108 off 114 with the help of six fours and three maximums.

Left-handed players Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh slammed 52 and 38 runs respectively as India reached a big total of 296/8 in their allotted 50 overs. Seam bowler Beuran Hendricks was the pick of the African bowlers for his spell of 3/63 (9). In reply, the centurion from the last game, Tony de Zorzi continued his solid form as he slammed 81 off just 87. Captain Markram amassed 36 but the rest of the batting line-up failed to get going. The home side never looked like to be in the run-chase and eventually faltered. Avesh Khan and Washington Sundar snared two scalps each as the Proteas got bowled out for 218 in 45.5 overs. For his solid hundred, Samson won the Player of the Match award while Arshdeep grabbed the Player of the Series award for picking up ten wickets.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 3^rd ODI between South Africa and India:

35 – Having made his debut in the year 2015, Sanju Samson finally struck his maiden international century in his 35^th innings.

119.00 – Sanju Samson has scored 238 runs in five ODI innings at an average of 119.00 with one century and one half-century against South Africa.

10 – Arshdeep Singh has now picked up the most wickets (ten) for India in a three-match bilateral ODI series.

3 – Reeza Hendricks got dismissed by seamer Arshdeep Singh in all three matches of this series.

50 – Aiden Markram reached the milestone of 50 maximums in ODI cricket.

2 – KL Rahul became only the second Indian captain to win an ODI series against South Africa in South Africa. Virat Kohli did the job back in the year 2018.

30 – David Miller has managed to score just 30 runs in his last four ODI innings against India.