WATCH: 'Fell short by two shots' - Sanju Samson reacts after his 86* in vain in 1st ODI vs South Africa

Shikhar Dhawan-led India locked horns with South Africa in the first of the three-match T20I series on Thursday (October 06) in Lucknow. After asking the visitors to bat first and reducing them to 110/4, Indian bowlers were made to toil hard as unbeaten half-centuries from Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller took Proteas to a respectable 240-4 in a rain-curtailed 40-over contest.

In reply, India were on the back foot and reeling at 51-4 before Shreyas Iyer's 37-ball 50 and Sanju Samson's 86 not out, off 63 deliveries, instilled a fightback from the Men in Blue camp. While Iyer left with India being reduced to 118 for 5, Samson stayed till the end to keep India's hopes alive. He stitched a valuable 93-run sixth-wicket stand with Shardul Thakur (33) before losing partners at regular intervals. The right-hander continued to take his chances, with 30 needed off the last six balls, but was too much to ask from him alone.

After the match and his impressive knock, Samson told the reporters, "Thoda time wicket pe guzaarna bhot acha pasand karta hu aur Indian jersey pehen k to thoda aur bhi special he ho jaata hai. Magar khelte hain toh hum match jitaane ke liye, toh thoda sa reh gaya. Do shots reh gaya. Toh agli baar achi tareh karne dekhunga. Par apne contribution se sehmat hu(I like to spend some time in the middle. Playing in the Indian jersey, it becomes even more special. We always want to win, however, we just fell short. I fell short by two shots. I'm still satisfied with my contribution)."

"Unke bowlers achha daal rahe the par Shamsi expensive jaa rahe the, toh hum unko target kar sakte the. Unka ek over end me reh gaya tha, toh mujhe pata tha agar 24 run bhi honge, toh 4 chhakke main laga sakta tha. Main confident tha. Vo hi plan tha. Batsmen ne achhi tarah respond kiya, mujhe aisa laga.(They were bowling good but Shami was a bit expensive, so we wanted to go after him. I knew his one over remained and I thought, ‘Even if we have 24 runs remaining in the final over, I can hit 4 sixes’. I was confident. I believe the battersresponded well)," Samson added.

At the post-match presentation, Dhawan lauded his troops and said, "Quite proud of the way the boys played the game, we didn't get a good start, the way Shreyas, Samson and Shardul batted was excellent. We gave away too many runs on a wicket that swung and spun, the fielding wasn't great, but this was a good learning experience for us."