Watch: Sanju Samson dances down the track, smashes huge six to open his account after arriving at 51/4 in Indian innings

Sanju Samson made a brilliant start to his innings against South Africa in the first ODI, as he took on Tabraiz Shamsi, smashing him for a big six to open his run-scoring.

Team India endured a 9-run defeat in the first ODI of the series against South Africa on Thursday. In a rain-shortened 40-over match, a Shikhar Dhawan-led Indian team invited South Africa to bat first; the Proteas put 249/4 on the board before restricting the hosts to 240/8 in Lucknow. For India, Sanju Samson played a valiant knock as he remained unbeaten on 86 off 63 deliveries, smashing nine fours and three sixes en route his knock.

Sanju Samson(Hotstar)

Samson came in to bat when India were reeling at 51/4 in 17.4 overs; in addition to a slow run-rate, the hosts had also lost key wickets of openers Dhawan and Shubman Gill, as well as Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad cheaply. However, Samson remained undeterred with the pressure situation as he opened his account with a massive six against left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.

Samson stepped out to dispatch a length delivery from Shamsi over the deep midwicket boundary for a maximum.

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Alongside Shreyas Iyer (50), Samson forged a 66-run stand, and then played the anchor role in a 93-run partnership with Shardul Thakur for the sixth wicket.

In the final over of the match, India needed 30 runs to win and Samson kept the side's hopes alive with a 6 and two fours off the first three deliveries of the match. However, the wicketkeeper-batter couldn't dispatch the fourth delivery to the boundary, thus confirming the result in Proteas' favour.

Despite the loss, Samson was lauded by the legends of the game for his brilliant knock in the Lucknow ODI.

Earlier in the game, Shardul Thakur picked two wickets while Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Bishnoi took one each, while Heinrich Klaasen (74*) and David Miller (75*) produced brilliant knocks to take South Africa to 249/4 in 40 overs.

Team India will return for the second ODI of the series on October 9 in Ranchi on Sunday. The Shikhar Dhawan-led side will face a must-win situation in the Ranchi game, as a loss would hand a series win for the visitors.