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Sanju Samson opened for India in the first T20I, and with the help of seven fours and 10 sixes, he scored 107 runs from just 50 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya celebrate Sanju Samson’s century in 1st T20I vs South Africa. (Picture Credit: Screengrab)
India’s T20I captain Suryakaumar Yadav and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya took to Instagram on Friday night to post pictures of Sanju Samson after he scored his second T20I century to set up a big 61-run win for India in the first T20I played against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban. Sanju opened for India after Aiden Markram invited the visitors to bat first, and during his 50-ball stay at the crease, he scored 107 runs with the help of seven fours and 10 sixes.
Samson’s 107-run knock on Friday at Kingsmead helped him become the first Indian cricketer in history to score back-to-back 100s in T20Is, and he also equalled Rohit’s record of hitting most sixes in a T20I match for India.
Samson broke multiple batting records in the first T20I, and his teammates, along with the former greats of the game, celebrated his superb show with the bat.
Captain Suryakumar posted a selfie with Samson on Instagram and captioned it, “Top man, Top knock, SPECIAL night,” whereas Hardik shared a picture of Samson celebrating his century and captioned it, “A knock for the ages.”
Samson also took to Instagram on Friday night to share a picture of him from the match, and the likes of Jos Buttler, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, and Suresh Raina posted a heartfelt comment on it.
Sanju, who crossed the 100-run mark with a single on the 47th ball he faced on Friday, added 66 runs for the second wicket with Suryakumar Yadav, who scored 21 runs from 17 balls. He was also involved in a 77-run partnership with Tilak Varma, who in his first T20I match since the Afghanistan series in January 2024, scored 33 runs from 18 balls.
After Samson’s 107-run knock helped India post a total of 202 runs on the board, Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakravarthy picked up 3 wickets each to bowl South Africa out of 141 runs in 17.5 overs. For India, Avesh Khan also picked up two wickets, whereas South African captain Aiden Markram was sent back to the pavilion by Arshdeep Singh for eight runs from four balls.
