IND vs SA, 1st T20I: India's star wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson had to wait for nine years after he made his T20I debut. And in order to play in his second T20I match, he waited for just 27 days. Sanju Samson has become the first Indian batter ad fourth overall to have scored two consecutive centuries in the shortest format. He scored 111 runs off 47 balls in Hyderabad last month against the Bangla Tigers. He continued his sublime form from Hyderabad as he smashed a century off 47 balls in the first T20I against South Africa, which was being held in Durban.
He was at his absolute best as he took the Protea bowlers to the cleaners. The visitors did suffer a huge blow as opener Abhishek Sharma fell cheaply but Samson and skipper Suryakumar Yadav helped the team bounce back during the powerplay as they scored 56 runs in six overs. Samson scored 35 runs off just 20 balls during the powerplay and made his intentions quite clear.
Around 11 Indian batters had scored centuries in the shortest format and just four of them were able to score more than once. Sanju Samson has joined al elite group of players like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav, to have scored more than one T20I centuries.
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Samson went all guns-blazing against pacers and spinners as he ripped apart their bowling lineup. He had smashed seven fours and nine sixes in his brilliant knock and at one point it looked that the Men in Blue would post a huge total in the 1st T20I in Durban.
Baters with back-to-back T20I hundreds
Gustav Mckeon - France
Rilee Rossouw - South Africa
Phil Salt - England
Sanju Samson - India
Samson got out after scoring 107 runs during the 16th over as he tried to smash pacer Coetzee. He also surpassed Rohit Sharma's tally of scoring the highest T20I runs against South Africa.
Samson and Suryakumar Yadav built a gritty partnership of 66 runs in 5.5 overs, where the wicket-keeper overshadowed Suryakumar's performance. Samson smacked the bowlers to all the corners of the park with his brilliant strokeplay as a middle-orde batter in the 1st T20I.
Samson's Durban special in numbers
Fastest T20I hundred against South Africa for India
First wicketkeeper-batter to hit two T20I hundreds
Fourth Indian to hit more than one hundred in T20I cricket
He has been in and out of the T20I squad, especially after making his debut in the shortest format in 2015. He couldn'y seal his position in the T20I squad due to lesser chances although he was quite successful, while playing fir RR in IPL.
He was also the part of the T20 World Cup winning team but didn;t feature in any of the matches.
Under Suryakumar and Gautam Gambhir's guidance, Samson have completely transformed himself and especially as an opener. There are high chances that he might replace Rohit Sharma, who announced his retirement from T20Is after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup.