Sanju Samson Scored Second 100 In A Row: Sanju Samson has scored his second consecutive century in T20Is for India as he took the team past the 200-run mark against South Africa in the recent T20I. Becoming only the fourth player in history to score two T20I tons in a row.
The Indian Cricket Team took on the Proteas in the first of a four-match T20I series today in Durban’s Kingsmead Stadium. The home team won the toss and decided to bowl first. For the Men in Blue, out walked Samson and Abhishek Sharma to open.
Ever since winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they defeated South Africa in the final, India has been playing a lot of young stars in the T20I side. With the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja retiring from the format, Suryakumar Yadav now captains the side, with the likes of Sanju, Abhishek, and Rinku Singh becoming major players in the side.
The Rajasthan Royals captain was the first to attack, scoring a couple of boundaries in the second over. But within the powerplay, Sharma was dismissed by Gerald Coetzee. At 24/1, Sanju and skipper Yadav then partnered up to take India well out of the powerplay. Around the end of eight overs, Samson reached his 50 in just 27 deliveries.
When Surya lost his wicket, the team score was 90/2 in nine overs. At this point, in walked Tilak Varma, and the two on-strike batters tore the bowing attack apart. In the next 5.4 overs, the two combined to make 77 runs, after which Tilak got out for 33 in 18.
Uncharacteristically, Rinku Singh slowed the inning down a bit. But Sanju Samson kept attacking, on the other hand, completing his century in the 15th over. But not looking to slow down after reaching the milestone, the Kerela-based wicketkeeper-batter went full throttle but was then caught near the boundary in the 16th over.
Sanju Samson Scored Second 100 In A Row
Samson had scored 107 runs in 50 balls. After his dismissal, the team only managed to score 20-odd runs in the final four overs, and India barely made it past the 200-run mark, scoring 202/8 in 20 overs.
In 34 T20Is he has played for the national team; this was Sanju Samson’s second century. But what is even more impressive is that his last 100 for India in the format came in his last T20I match. The 29-year-old played all three matches for India in the three-game T20I series against Bangladesh in October.
After promising starts but disappointing performances in the first two T20I, Sanju entered the third game in Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium with destruction on his mind. In that game, which was the Indian Cricket Team’s last T20I before today’s match against South Africa, he scored 111 runs in just 47 deliveries and played a major role in taking India to a record score of 297/6 in 20 overs.
With this, he became only the fourth player and only third from a Test-playing nation to score consecutive tons in T20I cricket. Before him, France’s Gustav Mckeon, South Africa’s Rilee Russouw, and England’s Phil Salt have achieved this feat.
On the back of Sanju Samson’s brilliant ton, the first South Africa vs India T20I ended in a 61-run Indian win as the Proteas were bowled out for 141. Sanju, for his inning, was unsurprisingly named the Player of the Match.
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