Sanju Samson Smashes The First Century Of IPL 2019

Sanju Samson scored his second century of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and first of the ongoing 12th edition during a match between Rajasthan Royals and SunRisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad on Friday. Sanju Samson stitched together a century stand with skipper Ajinkya Rahane to guide Rajasthan Royals to a mammoth 198 for two. Samson didn't spare a single SunRisers' bowler and remained unbeaten on 102 that came off just 55 balls with the help of 10 fours and four hits over the fence. 

First for @IamSanjuSamson in Vivo @IPL
First of #VivoIPL2019
Sam-sational knock #HallaBol #SRHvRR #RR pic.twitter.com/n68EjQVh05

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) March 29, 2019

That's a CENTURY from @IamSanjuSamson. His second in #VIVOIPL#RRvSRH pic.twitter.com/ZM0k1Dlzpp

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 29, 2019

His first century in the T20 tournament came in 2017 and was on fire in the 2018 edition where he smashed 441 runs from 15 matches.

Sanju Samson has now joined an elite list of Indian batsmen with more than one IPL hundred. Virat Kohli (4) has the most hundreds by an Indian batsman. Murali Vijay (2) and Virender Sehwag (2) are the only other Indians with more than one hundred in the IPL.

Opening the batting after winning the toss, Rahane led from the front with 49-ball 70 and together with Samson shared 119 runs for the second wicket after the early dismissal of Jos Buttler.    

While Rahane played the anchor's role, Samson opened up his arms soon and smashed two sixes in consecutive overs of Shahbaz Nadeem and Siddarth Kaul to give some momentum to Rajasthan's innings.    

Both Rahane and Samson paced their innings to perfection, as after playing cautiously initially, they broke their shackles when needed and notched up the team's 100 in 11.5 overs.    

Rahane registered his first fifty of the ongoing IPL in 38 balls while Samson brought up his half-century in 34 deliveries.

(With PTI Inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

Rajasthan Royals Sunrisers Hyderabad Sanju Samson IPL 2019 Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals, Match 8 Cricket