The crowd at the Wankhede Stadium, which is the home of the Mumbai Indians, was up on its feet. The same way as the Mumbai crowd was last month when Sanju Samson played a match-winning innings against England in the T20 World Cup semi-final.
Tonight, the stakes were not as high as a T20 World Cup semi-final game, but it was still a match of the biggest and most storied rivalry in the IPL: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings (MI vs CSK).
While against England, Samson fell 11 runs short of the three-figure mark, against MI, the Kerala batsman galloped to the century landmark with a boundary on the last ball of CSK’s innings, reaching his hundred in 54 balls.
This was truly an outstanding knock by Samson. Where he remained unbeaten on 101, carrying his bat, none of the other CSK batsmen managed more than 22 runs. This meant that while Samson’s innings pushed CSK to a total just above 200, CSK perhaps would have wanted more after being inserted in by Hardik Pandya on what has largely been a flat pitch.
What’s another interesting stat is that Samson now has the joint-most centuries (2) by a CSK batsman in IPL history, having played only 7 innings for the franchise. Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, and Ruturaj Gaikwad have two centuries each for CSK, and Samson is the first CSK batter to record an IPL hundred against rivals Mumbai Indians.
Further, this is Samson’s fifth IPL century; only Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, and Jos Buttler have plundered more IPL hundreds than Samson.
It was a properly calculated assault from Samson. Realizing that the pitch has some grip in it for the spinners, he remained largely cautious against Mitchell Santner and AM Ghazanfar but tonked the pacers.
This street-smart cricket from Samson meant that Hardik Pandya bowled only two overs after leaking 38 runs in 12 balls, and youngster Krish Bhagat conceded 31 runs in two overs. This included two sixes and one four in the 20th over of CSK’s innings, taking the team total to 207.
Fans hailed Sanju Samson for his majestic and fighting ton against MI.
Former India batsman Mohammad Kaif labelled him as a “world class batter” and his innings “so elegant so pleasing to the eyes.”
Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle applauded Samson for making the “difference” in CSK’s batting lineup.
MI vs CSK: Twitter Reactions As Sanju Samson Smashes Century Against Mumbai Indians
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